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Maple Dip
Boil down maple syrup, or dissolved maple sugar and water, till it hairsnot quite long enough to wax as for "sugaring off"-but very thick and rich; when just right this is a general favorite.
Two lines of text that assume you know what maple looks like at every stage of the boil. The whole recipe is a temperature call, so a candy thermometer settles it.
- "Till it hairs" means the thread stageSugar syrup that spins a fine hair or thread off a lifted spoon is at roughly 230-234F. Below that the dip runs off the spoon and off the ice cream; above it you are heading for candy.
- Why it must not "wax"Waxing is the soft-ball stage at about 235-240F, the point where maple poured on snow sets into taffy. Stop short of it or the dip stiffens into a chewy sheet the moment it hits anything cold.
- Maple sugar and waterIf you are starting from a cake of maple sugar rather than syrup, the recipe gives no proportions: add only enough water to dissolve it. Stir until dissolved, then leave it alone.
- Guarding against graininessWipe crystals down from the sides of the pan with a wet brush and do not stir once it boils. Agitating a concentrated maple syrup is the fastest way to get a gritty dip.
- Pan and volumeUse a heavy pan with high sides. Maple foams up hard as it concentrates, far above the level of the cold syrup, and it scorches on thin metal.
- Yield and servingA cup of syrup boils down to somewhat less than a cup of dip. This is a sauce for dipping or pouring, not a frozen dessert in itself.
- Holding and reheatingIt thickens as it cools and sets firm in the refrigerator. Warm it gently over hot water, with a spoonful of water if it has gone too stiff, rather than back over direct heat.
Maple was the cheap sweetener of the northeastern United States and eastern Canada well into the nineteenth century, and the vocabulary of this recipe belongs to the sugarhouse rather than the kitchen: "sugaring off" is the final boil at the end of the spring run, when neighbors gathered to watch the sap reduce and ate the hot syrup poured onto clean snow, where it seizes into maple wax.