How to Make Maple Sugar in Your Own Kitchen

Last Updated on June 20, 2024 by Michelle

As shorter, cooler days usher in the next season, my thoughts are turning to making maple sugar.

 

— Scroll down for the 3 steps to delicious maple sugar. —

The annual arrival of fall turns my thoughts to maple. I write a lot about the magic of sugar making–and how we cut our costs in half. By the way, there are 30 trees that can be tapped to make syrup.

Who knows, maybe you too can make some glorious maple sugar from your own trees! But don’t worry… if tree-tapping and sap-collecting aren’t your “thing,” making maple sugar can still very much be your thing. Order a bottle of some wonderful maple syrup (I love this one), a copy of my course Making Maple Sugar, and you’ll be on your way to delicious all-natural sweetness. Or just skip right to the good stuff … and pick up some amazing maple sugar.

And feel free to check out the specific kitchen tools I use to make our maple sugar, right here. You also might like the helpful comparison chart you’ll find here, comparing maple sugar  to refined sugar.

But I don’t want summer to end

While I can’t deny her beauty under the hands of crisp New Hampshire September nights, I have greeted Autumn hesitantly ever since our family moved to New England three years ago. I hate saying goodbye to the most amazing summer days I have ever experienced on this side of heaven. I’m not kidding, August in New Hampshire’s lake region is that wondrous. But thoughts of maple sugar, maple cream, and maple sugar–which I never appreciated before being a New Englander–are something I now welcome with abandon.

Like most years, Autumn snuck in, in my peripheral vision. Being my usual self, I’m in denial. I hear Autumn under every step. I see her in the sugar maple’s yellow patches that dot every walk in the woods or drive down a back road. I notice her deadly effects on my brittle, brown squash vines and browning corn stalks.

Yet diligent bees still work to find healthy garden blooms, our broody hen who loves being a momma has hatched more chicks, and I am in denial. Yes, amidst all the reminders of the cool weather ahead, our bees, Eagle (my hen), and I ignore that Autumn has returned.

I try to ignore that she is stealing my summer produce and easy, warm milking mornings only to replace them with unrippening tomatoes and frosty breath when we greet Scout and Selah in the field at 6:45 every morning.

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links.

But maple is the new flavor of fall

While thoughts of bonfires and apple picking ease the shock a little, to truly ease my grip on another perfect New England summer that I don’t want to end, I turn my thoughts to something else. Today I’m sharing with you a little part of one of the tastiest things of the long New England winter ahead… maple sugar and how to make it yourself.

I heard on the radio last week that all things maple flavored are the hottest thing this fall, overtaking even delicious pumpkin. So I decided it was about time I share my secret with you. The secret of DIY maple sugar.

And not one sugar maple tree or tap is required. You can make your own maple sugar from any real maple syrup that you can buy. If, on the other hand, you want to read up on how to make maple syrup from your own trees, you’ll find tons of information right here, on SoulyRested.

If you don’t know what you’d do with maple sugar, I need to enlighten you on the 10 reasons maple sugar is the best sweetener you could ever use. Really. Check them out. You’ll be shocked.

How to make your own maple sugar

You could buy all-natural maple sugar. But why pay $20 or more for a tiny bag when you can actually make this marvelous sweetener right in your own kitchen. Today.

One quart of syrup will yield about 1.5 – 2 pounds of sugar.

You just need some genuine maple syrup, a commercial-quality mixer, a candy thermometer, and a good dose of patience. (We’ve read that if you’re very patient, and have strong hands, you can attempt to do this by hand. But we’ve never attempted it. In the mixer it can take 15 minutes or more of mixing, so I can’t imagine how long it would take by hand.)

I should also warn you that making maple sugar pretty much meant the death of my standard kitchen aid. The motor just isn’t up to that kind of work too many times. We upgraded to a professional kitchen aid (this one) and I truly love this baby. Now I can make maple sugar whenever I want, and my mixer is a workhorse, always up to the challenges this maple-sugar-lovin’ lady dishes out.

Step 1. Heat.

First, heat the syrup to  252-257˚F. Once it reaches that temperature, remove the pan from the heat and pour the now-darker-and-thicker syrup into your mixer’s bowl.

Step 2. Mix.

That’s when you start mixing. And mixing. And then mix some more. Warning: this definitely puts a beating on a standard mixer’s motor. If you force this issue, one day it will just burn up and stop working for you, right in the middle of making a batch of maple sugar. Well, I mean, it may. I’m not talking from personal experience or anything. Cough. Cough.

I upgraded to this great model, which is basically professionally-graded power, made for an average kitchen. I’m glad I took the plunge every single time I use it, which is always many times a week.

Step 3. Sift.

As it starts turning to granulated sugar (trust me, it will happen, magically), it may rise up in volume. If you need to, turn off the mixer, and the volume will decrease again. But be sure to keep mixing the sugar until all moisture has been beat out of it and the sugar is finely granulated. It will look similar to commercially packaged brown sugar.

Or, if your batch of maple syrup that you started with was heavier on the crystalized side, and/or a dark syrup that was made later in the sugaring season, like ours was last winter, you’ll have large granules of sugar that you may want to work through a sieve to make finer quality sugar. (We kept some in the larger granules too; they’re great for ice cream and cupcake sprinkles or dissolving in my morning cup of hot tea.)

Can you buy your maple syrup?

Folks always ask me if they can purchase maple syrup and then make their own maple sugar from store-bought syrup. Well, yes and no. I wouldn’t recommend picking up syrup at your local big box chain store. You just have no idea what you’re getting there. One bottle of syrup will be a conglomeration of syrup from possibly 330 different sugarhouses, all processed and bottled together. If you want to be sure you’re getting the best maple syrup, you really should find a sugarhouse that you like, that you want to support. Then you know what you’re getting. Every time.

But YES you definitely can purchase all-natural 100% maple syrup and make your own maple sugar with that. If you’re looking for the best, this one right here is the best I’ve found.

Click one of the images here to also download two free printables I think you’ll love… a conversion chart for baking with maple syrup as well as a comparison chart, comparing maple sugar to refined.

 

Want more details?

The process is a little bit more complicated than the details I’ve given you here, but I go into much greater detail in my eCourse, Making Maple Sugar. 

Making Maple Sugar includes a 28-page, full-color ebook that explains why maple sugar is one of the best all-natural sweeteners you can use, as well as outlining lots of great ways to use it! Get all the details, find out about the $53-worth of FREE bonuses–almost 3x the price of the course!–and see what others are saying about this course right here. You can get started making amazing, all-natural sugar right in your own kitchen today! (And, bonus, every purchase helps support a small sugar farm, sustain a valuable growing process, and support a New England farming family.)

 

And Sweet Maple too?

Everyone is asking if they buy this course will they have any need for the full-length book too? 100% YES! They compliment each other. This ecourse is more about the instructional video and very simple, effective, hands-on learning targeted specifically to making your own all-natural maple sugar (no sugarbush or tapping required folks). You won’t find that in Sweet Maple .

But Sweet Maple explains every detail you’d ever want to know about maple syrup–from tap to table… with dozens of wonderful recipes about baking with maple syrup.

Sweet Maple is loaded with year’s worth of research about the scientific properties of maple syrup that make it–in my opinion–the best sweetener option know to man.

Sweet Maple includes a whole chapter on the 30 varieties of trees that one can use to make syrup (yes thirty).

And Sweet Maple explains how to tap successfully across the country–and around the world–NOT only in the maple belt where folks typically think you need to live in order to tap trees.

So do you want to own both? The Making Maple Sugar ecourse and Sweet Maple? The answer if a sweet “Absolutely!”

 

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Glance at my Resource Page if you’d like to get a glimpse of all the supplies I use and recommend for everything from gardening, to nature journaling, to maple syrup making.

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I’ve rounded up my favorite products that I thought you may be interested in right here:

 

 

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Many readers often ask what camera I use to take the images you find here on SoulyRested. I love my Nikon; you can read more about my camera and even purchase your own here.

 

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And please follow along!

Please take a second to follow along here on SoulyRested to catch up on a few of my memorable mishaps, discover fascinating things about my centuries-old farmhouse, glean a little parenting/homeschooling insight fr om this momma who’s been failing at the effort for almost 2 decades, or enjoy the inside scoop on the secrets other legit homesteaders might not tell you.

I hope my focus always encourages you, because simple joys require hard work. Let’s face it, we all need all the encouragement we can get! As soon as you subscribe (in the box at the end of this post), you’ll have immediate access to my Resource Library, which includes many useful printables, including helpful ones related to making backyard maple syrup. And, destined to be the most popular item in my Resource Library–A SWEET TASTE–this giant, full-color, 5-chapter, 33-page eBook is my gift to you… a tiny introduction to Sweet Maple.

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