I think the stuff we got was a solid disc of pure, crystallized maple sugar.
You could not bite a piece off...you had to alternately gnaw and suck.
A maple brick.
My teeth hurt, just thinking about it.
LOL. Maple cement.
It was a *lick* to keep you kids quiet for 5 minutes.
When I was almost 8, my parents went to New Hampshire, on vacation. They brought me a big box of maple candy and yes, they are hard, shaped into different things ( flowers, animals, birds, etc. ) and far too damned sweet; sweeter than sucking on or chewing a sugar cube. I hated them and only sort of ate one of ‘em. YUCK!