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Wisconsin ranks among the top 5 states in the production of maple syrup and maple products were one of the state's earliest agricultural products. Native Americans were familiar with the process of tapping trees for sap before white settlers arrived and it was an established tradition among immigrants from New England, New York, and the Southeast. Therefore, it’s not surprising that you can find depictions of the maple sugar season in our historic newspapers in Chronicling America. Maple sap was the primary sweetener in many pioneer homes. Rather than using it in syrup form as we do now, however, it was cooked down further and turned into maple sugar. The popularity of maple syrup didn’t grow until after imported cane sugar became more affordable in the 1860s and replaced maple sugar in many homes.

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The production of maple sugar was oftentimes a communal event. Tapping the trees, catching the sap, tending the fire, and boiling down the sap required many volunteers and helping hands came in all sizes: “Usually several neighbors will drop in during the evening, and while the boys tend the fire and skim the sap the older men will smoke and tell stories that make the boys hug closer to the bright firelight” (Wausau Pilot, 1903).

For the children the highlight of maple sugar season was its end when they “gathered around the steaming kettle of sirup with their dishes and little paddles whittled out of basswood, eagerly waiting for the word when the sirup is thick enough to stir into sugar.” As maple sugar season usually took place between mid-March and mid-April, the children would find some snow left on the ground sheltered by the trees. They would pour the thick hot syrup over the snow, which quickly cools it down and turns it into taffy. This maple candy is also known as maple wax.

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If you don’t have a maple tree ready to be tapped, you can still get the taste of an old-fashioned end of maple sugar season. Simply cook down some maple syrup and spread it on some snow either outside or in the comfort of your kitchen on a cookie sheet filled with snow. The tricky part is to know when the syrup has been cooked down enough. Too little cooking and you end up with a maple-flavored snow cone, which is also very delicious and enjoyable. Cook it a bit longer and enjoy a sticky taffy. Cook it even longer and make hard maple candy. We kept the syrup at a rolling boil for 10 minutes to create the less messy hard candy version.

The Recipe in 2021:

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Maple Candy

• Maple syrup
• Snow 

Bring maple syrup to a rolling boil and cook it for up to 10 minutes.

Pour quickly over the snow to create delicate strips of candy.