Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Sugar on Snow

Ever since the boys read the Little House on the Prairie series and then The Birchbark House books, they have wanted to boil maple syrup and make sugar on snow. Now that we eat more naturally we have maple syrup on hand so Sunday seemed like as good a day as ever to give it a try.

My mom always made it by feel and hers was much softer. I followed a recipe and at 255 degrees you end up with candy at the hard ball stage so it's very brittle and sticks in your teeth.

The kids loved the whole experience and had a blast watching the syrup boil and then immediately harden when it touched the snow. The taste was out of this world.


We tried to save some in a pot of snow in the backyard but it turned to mush by morning. All in all it was a wonderful activity.

Here's a card I made over the weekend. Brayden and I both thought Kelly's Gnome With Reindeer was such a sweet loving image. The paper is Scenic Route and Bazzill. Colored with Prismacolors.

3 comments:

Claudette said...

love the cards as always....but your activity with the boys are always awesome

Barbara Ferguson said...

I remember tapping the trees and watching the sap boil down to syrup cack home in upstate New York. The best tasting syrup ever and I do miss it. Loved the syrup on snow too as we sat in the "sugar shanny" while it was cooking. =)

And that card - another keeper!!

MaryEllen said...

My kids have always wanted to do this, too - and we actually have been having some snow this year! - so thank you for this reminder.