When I was younger, I used to look forward to our local
county fair in the summer for many reasons and one of them was maple sugar
candy. At that time, I only got
maple candy when I could buy it at the fair. It is still something I only get a couple of times a
year. I know that you see maple
candy in specialty stores fairly commonly now but it isn’t as good. The commercial mass-market candy that
these stores sell is just not the same as freshly made.
The maple candy I got at the fair was produced by a local
syrup maker and was sold in an area called The Country Store along side some of
his other maple products. They do
not sell it in that area anymore but there is a couple of places to get the
good stuff. The maple candy you
buy in a specialty store tends to be much harder, more crystallized, and less
flavorful. I prefer the softer
bite of the variety I grew up with.
It literally melts in your mouth, pooling maple goodness onto your
tongue. It was a treat a was
willing to spend my own hard earned money on and I usually tried to stock up at
the end of the fair. It never
lasted very long.
Now, I am lucky enough to have a brother who makes his own
maple syrup and maple candy. Every
year for Christmas, he gives me a nice tin of maple candies and many years a
gallon of syrup as well. The past
couple of years he has skipped the syrup but only because I was having a hard
time using it up and had started to get a stock pile.
For most people, real maple syrup is an expensive treat and
not a burden. Too much maple syrup
is certainly not the worst problem so I am not complaining. If it is every something that happens
to you, I have a few suggestions.
In addition to making pancakes, waffles and French toast a bigger part
of your diet, I have added maple syrup to homemade bread, pies and bowls of
oatmeal, plus I found recipes for maple popcorn and maple granola. I also repacked it in gift bottles and
did some re-gifting. The only
thing left to do is find a way to use it outside of the kitchen... maple facial
anyone?
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