From Scratch vs. From Store - Maple Flavored Syrup

Today I tried making maple syrup for the first time. We were almost out of syrup to it was a great time to try this out!

Also have you ever read the ingredients on the back of your maple syrup bottle? Here is what mine listed: corn syrup, high fructose corn syrup, water, sugar, natural and artificial maple flavor, then a list of preservatives and coloring. This recipe is basicly the same thing but the bonus is you only have the healthy ingredients in it.

Basic recipe:
2 c. sugar
1 c. water
1 tsp. maple extract

Bring water and sugar to a slow boil over low heat, stirring constantly. Remove from heat before it comes to a rolling boil(to keep crystals from forming). Add flavoring as it is cooling. Store in the refrigerator. This makes about 12 oz.

For thicker syrup replace half of the water with corn syrup.

REVIEW:

I did not realize it would take as long as it did to get the mixture to a low boil. So try to talk one of your kids into starting the "stirring constantly" part of this for you. It took 15 - 20 minutes to get this to a low boil. Since I don't enjoy standing in one spot and stirring constantly I am doubling this recipe next time. The fewer times I have to do this the better.

The consistancy is really thin and I did not mind it but the kids said it did not look like the syrup from the store. So next time I plan to replace 25% of the water with corn syrup. I did not have maple extract on hand so I used 100% Pure Grade B Maple Syrup that I got Free from Amazon.com with swagbucks. I had boughten this syrup about 6 months ago but no one here liked it so I have been slowly using it up in recipes. This worked perfectly - I added enough for the taste and color we wanted for the syrup. The taste was excellent and everyone preferred it over the store bought. With the changes outlined above this will be our new syrup recipe.

COST ANALYSIS: (24 oz.)
Homemade = .30
Store bought = $3.00-$4.00