Making Maple Taffy

It won't be long now 'til 'Sugar Season' is over (usually mid- to late-April) but you'll be relieved to know that maple syrup can still be found year round in grocery stores and farm markets throughout the region.

There are a few maple treats, however, that are only available during maple season ...introducing my favourite: maple taffy. The 'recipe' for maple taffy is:

• boil maple syrup to a higher temperature than required for syrup (238 degrees F)
• pour it off onto a prepared bed of fresh snow (crushed ice will do in a pinch!)
  
• twirl a small wooden stick (popsicle stick works well) around a section of taffy. Several people can surround the snow and do this at once!!
• eat!
  

The snow cools the hot syrup quickly results in a clear, sticky mapley toffee, or, as maple families such as ours call it: taffy. Warning: it's a tooth filling-removing kinda activity....