Maple syrup season

[notfarnow]

We have ~20 good sized maple trees on our lot, and I tapped half of them this week. The bigger trees get 2-3 taps.

I just do this for kicks, so no fancy equipment. We hang 2 liter pop bottles, or 4 liter water bottle on the ones that really give a lot of sap.

It really started to flow yesterday... I got 12 gallons of sap. I'll tap the rest of my trees tomorrow, but in the meantime I've started to boil the sap down.

I use an old wood stove that was in my basement when I bought the house. Carefully cut a large hole in the top so I could put a deep caterer's chafing pan in it. Works OK, but doesn't quite keep up with the volume of sap I'm getting.



Good clean fun, mostly because I really enjoy having a glass of wine and poking the fire.

[Jims5543]

That is awesome. I love real Maple Syrup. Verry cool little thing you got going there.

[azasadny]

Very cool! I love real maple syrup!! We put maple syrup and pomegranate seeds on our pancakes and love the taste!

[Zef]

Haaaaaaaaa...maple syrup season....My prefered stuff is the (reduit)...just before the precious liquid become syrup...It's God's delight...!

[notfarnow]

Originally posted by zefsuper911
Haaaaaaaaa...maple syrup season....My prefered stuff is the (reduit)...just before the precious liquid become syrup...It's God's delight...!

Actually that's the stage I'm at with this first batch right now. The trees are REALLY flowing now. Some of the 4 liter jugs were filled by 1-2 PM.

My next door neighbor has kids, and he's getting in in the action too. We tapped a few of his trees yesterday afternoon.

Hey I'll bring some "reduit" up for you next week, here's hoping the weather is good! I've got your #

[Jandrews]

Hey Jake,

This just sounds amazing. Give us some pictures of the trees, taps, flowing sap, and syrup. The rest of us suckers just have to buy the stuff in the grocery store and here you Pelicans are punching holes in your own trees!!!

Very cool. Wanna sell a couple bottles to some Pelicans?


JA

[speedracing944]

We just boiled 600 gallons 2 weekends ago. We boiled down to 13 gallons of syrup. The boil took about 18 hours to do. We poored off at around 2:30 in the morning.

Maple syruping sure make you appreciate the hard work which goes into the great taste. All 600 gallons of sap were collected by hand in about 12 inches of snow and carried over 1/4 miles in some cases. This year we had to use snow shoes so we weren't sinking into the snow.

Speedy

[speedracing944]

when I get home I will have to post pics of our operation. We have huge 4' X 8' X 10" stainless steel pan which holds the boiling sap. the fire chamber is the same 4' X 8' but 3 feet tall. We burn about 1 1/2 cords of wood during the boil. HOT!!!

Speedy

[onlycafe]

i like to sip a mix of bourbon and maple syrup, about 90% bourbon.
or as a pancake syrup, only 10% bourbon.

[LeeH]

How much to ship a bottle to AZ???

[K. Roman]

yeah, me too. I'm in SF.

[rammstein]

If you grow up on the real stuff, you cannot go back. In upstate NY, maple syrup was cheap. You'd buy it in a gallon jug. In FL, you pay like $15 for a little 10 oz bottle. I have no choice but to pay. Send me a gallon- you can be the secretary of agriculture when I take office in 08.

[notfarnow]

I'll take some pics and post them tonight. My setup is pretty rinky-dink, I'm just doing this for fun.

Last year we didn't tap, it was too warm and the sap didn't really run. Year before we got a total of 2 gallons of syrup. I bottle it, then save it till december for christmas presents; our family has a strict Make it bake it, or I won't take it"(TM) policy. So basically I'm doing my christmas shopping in April.

[many944s]

Originally posted by rammstein
If you grow up on the real stuff, you cannot go back. In upstate NY, maple syrup was cheap. You'd buy it in a gallon jug. In FL, you pay like $15 for a little 10 oz bottle. I have no choice but to pay. Send me a gallon- you can be the secretary of agriculture when I take office in 08.

Amen! My Aunt and Uncle have been running a "sugar shack" up in Michigan for 40 some-odd-years now. Nothing compares to fresh maple syrup on a waffle in the morning!!

[oldE]

Yeah Maple Season!

Back in Cumberland county, (The part by which Nova Scotia keeps the rest of North America from drifting into the Pacific), the Cobequid Range are some ancient mountains whish aren't uch good for anything but blueberries and maple trees. It seems like half of my family, cousins, and in-laws are into maple production.
Now, many operations are 'gathering by pipeline and running the sap through reverse-osmosis before boiling, not as pituresque as what Jake is doing (and I helped with as a kid. Thank God and the native people for snowshoes!)
Les

[Zef]

Originally posted by notfarnow
Actually that's the stage I'm at with this first batch right now. The trees are REALLY flowing now. Some of the 4 liter jugs were filled by 1-2 PM.

My next door neighbor has kids, and he's getting in in the action too. We tapped a few of his trees yesterday afternoon.

Hey I'll bring some "reduit" up for you next week, here's hoping the weather is good! I've got your #

OK Jake...if the weather is cooperative...I'm in fore a ride...!

[unimog406]

We always go up and help a friend sugar on his 400+ acre property. to tow the holding tank sled, he runs a 1940 dozer. that's when machines were machines. god, hot syrup and donuts in the sugaring shack.... mmmmm

[notfarnow]

I'd love to see some pictures of those larger setups! I'd also be interested to know how long the sap is collected before you start boiling. Someone told me it's only good for a day or two before it starts to ferment.

Either way, I'm starting to realize how limited I am by my little stove. I only have 10 trees tapped right now, and we tapped 4 of my neighbor's. Even though I had the stove going all day, I couldn't keep up.

We have no snow on the ground, so the pictures aren't spectacular or anything. Keep in mind this is just for fun, I'm just on a 3/4 residential lot in the burbs... not a 400 acre woodlot!




These next ones are always the first ones I tap to see if it's worth doing the rest of the trees. They are in the sun all day long, so if the sap is flowing, these trees are "bleeders. Plus, I can check them from the sunporch.




We use 2 liter pop bottles on most trees, and if they overflow then we use a 4 liter one. Yesterday morning was cold, and the sap didn't really start to flow until 1pm. Most of my bottles were full by 4.

[notfarnow]

Here's some more pictures of the stove.

It was in the basement when I bought the house. I cut a big hole in the top so I could fit the caterer's chafing pan. Once it gets a good bed of coals, it works really well.





I can get it just humming too... I have some pictures with flames licking out the top of the stovepipe!

[rattlsnak]

Cool, we stopped in Lebanon, New Hampshire last week, and they gave us a 16 OZ bottle. I have it hidden in the pantry, and break it out for toast in the morning before anybody gets up,