Sugar on Snow

Have I peaked your interest yet?

So, the story starts with today being a snow day.  Three inches -- not too shabby, but a drop in the bucket compared to the rest of the country.  The kids and I had just come in from spending some morning playtime in the snow when they settled themselves on the couch, and asked to watch Caillou.  I thought I would be nifty by picking out one of the snow-related Caillou's from our DVR list. 

While they were watching, I jumped at the opportunity for a bit of free time to brainstorm about some sort of fun activity that could try to take advantage of the snow.  I was hitting a brick wall, then I noticed which Caillou episode I had chosen -- the one where Caillou and his family (they're Canadian) visit a maple farm, and make maple taffy in the snow.  We've seen it so many times, yet this is the first time that it occurred to me that making that taffy might be a lot of fun! 

As it turns out, this practice of pouring boiling maple syrup over snow to make a super sweet and chewy treat is popular in both Canadian and New England areas, but the candy is referred to by different names depending on where you're from.  While Canadians call it "maple taffy" or "maple toffee", Americans prefer the classy title "sugar on snow".  Whatever the name, we waited for nap time (and one less set of helping hands), then got busy!

For maximum effect, it would have been lots of fun to pour the boiling syrup outside in the snow, but the outdoor temp was quickly rising so I scooped up some untouched snow for our indoor project.  Thankfully, I had stocked up recently, and had two brand new bottled of maple syrup in the pantry.  I couldn't imagine wanting too much taffy in the end, so I only used maybe a cup of syrup.  Here's the relatively simple process that I followed:

*Begin by heating your syrup over medium heat until it comes to a boil. 

*Using a candy thermometer to heat the syrup to around 235-255 degrees, keeping in mind that a lower temp will produce a softer result, and a higher temp will produce a harder candy.  Due to the fact that I had so little syrup in my pot, the thermometer just wasn't working out.  I started watching the color and types of bubbles, then tried pouring at different times.  It's really a trial and error process! 

*Drizzle boiled syrup over freshly packed snow.  This is a very handy tip: If your syrup temp isn't high enough yet, the syrup will soak into the snow; if it's too high, it will instantly harden on the snow.  You want it to settle on the surface, yet stay semi-soft.  As you can see, my first couple of tries didn't work out, but it was nice to see the difference and know that I was finally at the right point.

*Allow to cool for a few seconds, then place a wooden stick (we used chopsticks) into the taffy, and begin twirling it into small, bite-sized "globs" (sounds tasty, right?)  Enjoy!  Oh, and take my advice -- don't be tempted to put an extra-large piece in your mouth! 

*Don't wait too long before scooping up the candy...the cooler it get, the harder it gets.  One piece in particular got accidentally left behind.  I couldn't resist the urge to poke fun at my gourmet pickles by decorating them with a big piece of sugar art :)

I also learned from reading up on the subject that this sugar on snow creation is traditionally served with coffee, homemade buttermilk doughnuts and pickles.  Really?  Pickles?  They say it cuts the sweetness of the maple syrup.  I figured "when pretending to be in Canada, do as the Canadians do", so I broke out the pickle jar, but stopped short of making homemade coffee and doughnuts!  I'm fairly confident that they weren't referring the the dill hamburger chips we used, but whatever, pickles are pickles here.

Surprisingly, this was an overall super easy experiment, and one that we'll be sure to try again.  I scooped up a couple of extra containers of fresh snow, and stuck them in the deep freezer in case we get a craving again!  Apparently, this is traditionally made in the springtime (as the fresh syrup is being produced), so some people will pack away garbage bags of snow in their freezers, then have sugar on snow parties in the spring.  The next time you find snow in your backyard, try this fun treat!