Brown Sugar Candy

Thursday Holly made Brown Sugar Candy for part of her unit study on the pioneer life. First we read up on maple sugaring from the Pioneer Sampler. We read a story on the families work to get sap from their sugar bush right off of their farm. The story added wonderful elements of working in the woods, the hard labor that is required and an exciting encounter with a lynx... so exciting! This section discussed how they pull sap and then boil it down for syrup and sugars. I love how it shared on how much the workload is.

We also watched a short clip on how to tap a maple tree for sap. This was a short and sweet video on a modern farm.

The best part of our lesson was making Brown Sugar Candy. Holly did all of the work, pulling ingredients, measuring, working on the stove top under close supervision and taking the time frame measurements. The only portion I helped with was pouring the hot candy from the pot to the buttered pan. This was an easy candy to make for sure! We did make one adjustment. The recipe had called for a dark syrup - I was going to use molasses as a substitute but at the last minute I had Holly use normal syrup... and I am glad I did. I think it better represent the maple flavor we had just learned about.

The candy turned out perfect and is quiet good!!