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How to soften maple syrup butter?

linnea56 (zone 5b Chicago)

15 years ago

I bought some in Canada. It is pure maple syrup. Unfortunately when I opened the container, it had hardened. I scraped some out onto warm toast, thinking the heat would soften it to spreading consistency, but it did not. Still crumbly little chips. If it was honey I could put it into the microwave, but with honey that seems to accelerate the crystallization process, and it stiffens up faster.

How can I soften this? Thanks!

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Comments (7)

lindac
15 years ago
Warm in the micro and whip it with a beater.....and if you really want to make a good spread....add a little more butter.
annie1992
15 years ago
linnea, it sounds to me like you have what we call "maple cream" here, there's not actually butter in it, it's whipped maple syrup. When You say it's "pure maple syrup" I'm assuming you mean that there are no other ingredients.

I've had some "set up" pretty well in the refrigerator, and I usually just stir it and it gets more spreadable. If it's crumbly, you may have maple sugar by now. If that's the case I'd put just a little in the microwave and see what happens to it, or beat it in some softened butter as a spread. Or use it as maple sugar, which I love sprinkled on top of shortbread...

Annie
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linnea56 (zone 5b Chicago)
Original Author
15 years ago
Yes, butter on the label is a misnomer. It is (or was) whipped maple syrup. No other ingredients. We used to have this all the time when I was a kid, just spread on toast. I never see it in stores here. I guess my parents sneaked off to Canada more often than I had thought.

It is quite hard, I had to scrape at the top to get chips off. I will cut off a chunk and experiment with softening. It would be good with butter mixed in anyway.
annie1992
15 years ago
linnea, if you can get it out of the container, I'd bash it with a rolling pin and see if I could get smaller "maple sugar" type consistency, and then deal with it.

Annie
lindac
15 years ago
Soften it with heat and whip in butter....frozen butter if you have to get it hot to melt... room temp butter if it melts when just warmed.
lpinkmountain
15 years ago
Once the sugar crystalizes you're going to have a hard time getting it to "butter" consistency. Maple cream is great, but after a while the water evaporates and you get crystal formation. Kind of like when you grew sugar crystals on a stick, lol! At that point, it's pretty difficult to get it to dissolve again. Chip it out and bash it up is probably the best options. I ruined a very nice little pitcher trying to get maple sugar crystals out of it. I think that's why Native Americans made loaves of maple sugar, they could then easily break off a chunk!
linnea56 (zone 5b Chicago)
Original Author
15 years ago
Thanks, I think that is my only option. I will bash it up, and then maybe whip some butter and blend it in. I wanted it for toast, anyway.

I tried softening it in a pan of warm water yesterday. It did soften up a bit, though nowhere near spreading consistency. But then it hardened back up again as soon as it cooled. I was hoping it would work like it does with crystallized honey.

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