For sweet returns, blend 1,000 gallons of pure maple syrup, hours of Cornell research and a team of extension educators over steady heat to boiling. Continue heating to 245 degrees Fahrenheit, and then stir rapidly while cooling. Pour this mixture out at farm markets, Web sites and specialty stores throughout New York state. When solidified, sample the growing world of profitable maple confections.

New York maple producers are learning how to process their syrup into new candies and confections, from maple lollipops and cotton candy to soda, jelly and maple marshmallows. With these products, they can triple the value of their pure maple syrup and double or triple their revenue, say Cornell Cooperative Extension experts. At the same time, they are meeting an increasing consumer demand for such local foods as granular maple sugar derived exclusively from nearby forests.

Although most research at the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences eventually makes a difference on farms, the maple confections initiative has farm-level impact almost immediately. The initiative came about in late 2005 when it was selected for funding by the New York Farm Viability Institute.

Maple syrup producers across New York state quickly felt the effects. First, maple confection research, in collaboration with the Food Venture Center at the New York State Agricultural Experiment Station in Geneva, N.Y., established how to use glucose-measuring equipment to analyze levels of invert sugar in maple syrup. Additional research worked out the mathematics of blending syrup with varying invert sugar levels for consistency. Then came the outreach.

"The county extension staff people are my link to the maple clientele. We work with the New York State Maple Producers Association, but it is the county extension offices that make this project work," said Steve Childs, the Cornell maple extension specialist. In the past 16 months, seven county extension associations helped Childs develop and promote 13 interactive maple confection workshops, reaching more than 170 maple producers based in counties as widespread as Delaware, Chautauqua, Lewis, Warren and Schuyler.

Staff members at CCE offices were also trained and equipped to serve as local maple confection advisers, maximizing the continuing impact of the project. "With the extension staff trained and closer by, I don't have to have 1,500 maple producers chasing me for details," said Childs.

CCE experts have reviewed each confection process for costs and realistic revenues, so maple producers can make decisions about pricing. Maple cotton candy sales, for example, can bring a tenfold improvement over retail maple syrup prices, even though expenses are only marginally higher. In addition, maple confections can be shipped more economically than syrup because they are lighter in weight.

Jim Ochterski is the agriculture economic development specialist for Cornell Cooperative Extension Ontario County.