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January/February 2007,
Have You Ever Wanted to... Make Maple Candy Like a Vermonter?
Hallmark Magazine
by Virginia Sole-Smith

“My dad used to throw Sugar-on-Snow parties for hundreds of people,” says Arnold Coombs, owner of Coombs Family Farms and a seventh-generation maple syrup farmer in Vermont. “The key is to use 100 percent maple syrup—anything with fillers won’t harden in the snow.” Sweet success is just a candy thermometer away.

  1. Heat a heavy-bottomed pot, filled halfway with maple syrup, to 233 degrees Fahrenheit without stirring. Use a bit of vegetable oil to calm any bubbles that boil up

  2. Pour the hot syrup in swirls over packed-like-a-snowball snow. If the syrup seeps into the snow instead of hardening, it needs more time to thicken on the stove.

  3. Pluck your candy off the snow and enjoy with a hot doughnut and a dill pickle to balance the sweetness—really! That’s how they do it in Vermont.