Monday, March 1, 2010

'Cause the candy man can :).

Makes the world taste good.

Sunday was a productive maple day for me :). One of my teachers along with her friend and her mom came over to make maple candies for a special occasion. How it works, basically, is you cook a gallon of pure maple syrup(in case you aren't aware we make/sell our own, which is why this is taking place at my grandmother's house) until it reaches the appropriate degree for candy making. My grandma has a nifty temperature that has a scale for what range goes with different consistencies of syrup, such as cream, hard candy, ect.

This is "the pig", named for it's striking resemblence, haha. It's the container the syrup cooks in. Once it's reached the point, we transfer "the pig" over to the table and secure it to the candy machine. Once it has cooled to the appropriate temperature we turn on the machine and open the little pig snout to allow syrup to drizzle into the tray below.

As you can probably guess it is stirred by the coil, and a valve on the end can be opened and closed to let the candy flow into the molds below. Precision is key; this step can get real messy, real fast.

.......And GRANDMA!! Hahah ;D!!

Once you have run out of syrup, this is your end result :).

There will actually be ALOT more than this, trays and trays full. This is what they look like though. The portrait molds belong to my teacher. We generally just make the traditional maple leaf candies although I've considered investing in some new supplies when I take it over this year :). I find the whole process to be pretty enjoyable.

So tell me, how are you guys?

9 comments:

Natalie said...

That is so awesome :D Thank you for letting us take a glimpse into the world of maple candy making, hehe. Now I feel super duper educated! Except now I'm unbelievably hungry... thanks a lot ;)

Nicole Linette said...

Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh, EPIC POST OLIVE! HAHA!
I absolutely adore Maple syrup season. I'm so stoked it's indescribable. It makes me long for my old house, where we had a full backyard of trees to tap :) so now, we have to pay the petty consumer price like everyone else. Hahaha. I love these pictures, especially the first! Those look DELICIOUS!!!

And I'm fine! Except I lost my flash drive that contains my life D:
AGH, what can you do.

~ nicole.

Ali said...

I am fantastic Olive, thanks. (:
Your grandma looks fun. :D

Helennn Louise said...

Oh wow! That's so totally cool! I didn't realise your family made/sold candy! That is such a cool job and you take over this year! I don't really know what the Maple Syrup season thing is but wow, they sure look good!

Hannah said...

That's so epic! They look so good!! I don't think I've ever had maple candies before! :O You make even the process delicious, not to mention the actual candy.

That's really neat that you're taking over soon! It sounds like it's actually really fun and stuff :D

I'm doing really great! How have you been lately?

xo,
hk

Unknown said...

You are making me so hungry.

Kat said...

I could do that for the rest of my life!They look sooo delicious!I desperately need to try one of these!Lovely blog!
C:

Kat said...

I could do that for the rest of my life!They look sooo delicious!I desperately need to try one of these!Lovely blog!
C:

Shayla Jade said...

Geezzz, Olive.. You get a ton of comments! hahahaha I've never had any of your maple candies before, but I know your syrup is delicious. Miss you! <3