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make maple syrup


 

How to make maple syrup by gaiagranolaranger

"Sugaring is the quintessential rite of Spring!"

How I did it: Since I grew up doing this on our farm, it’s kind of a freebie I guess. But I HAVE made a point to make syrup on my own land as an adult. I bought a sheet of stainless and had it bent into a pan according to the design of my parents’ pan—a long, narrow, shallow pan with a “lip” on each side (into which 2×4 “handles” are slipped when it comes time to take the pan off the fire). With 125 taps in our sugarbush and two 200 gallon galvanized cattle tanks (never used by cattle, mind you!) for sap storage, we were in business!

Carrying the sap is a lot of work, but with that number of taps it is just do-able. Figure 30-40 gal of sap/gallon of finished syrup. We would boil when we had both tanks plus two 35 gal trash cans (never used by trash, mind you!) full of sap. Minus the head room, it was usually about 450 gallons of sap. If you do the math, you see that’s a lot of syrup! And since we’d usually get two or three or even four batches during a good run, we’d be stocked for years!

It’s a wonderful time of year, during the Sugar Moon. I love carrying sap at night, especially around the full moon. The snow reflects the moonlight so that it’s almost like daylight. It’s quiet and relatively warm. ... Ahhh! I even remember a couple spring evenings being out there walking on snowshoes and having a spring lightning storm come up! Absolutely so cool…

Lessons & tips:

  • If you're going to do this routinely, get a hydrometer ... They are easy to use and it's worth it. No more guessing.
  • You can make cheap but serviceable collecting buckets out of gallon plastic milk jugs. If you are diligent about washing them out at the end of the season, they'll last several years.  We stored ours carefully, strung on a long piece of baling twine hung between a couple rafters in the garage.
  • You can make metal hangers used to hang the milk jugs from the spiles.
  • I've never tried to make the spiles ... more efficient just to buy them.
  • I've always strained my syrup through cloth after cooking it down. This gets most of the niter out so it doesn't settle in the bottom of the jar.

Resources:
There are a couple of great books out there, but my favorite is the one by Rink Mann.http://www.amazon.com/Backyard-Sugarin-Complete-How-Guide/dp/0881502162


 

Apr 30, 08:51PM PDT | 0 comments | 2 cheers


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    Entries

    Hal Heinze

    Final Stage - Consumption 2 years ago

    Had my homemade maple syrup on some pancakes this morning. Damn good. I would not want to do this often, but once a year seems like a simple way to remind myself of the simple pleasures (like sweet syrup) that can be found in nature (or your own backyard).

    Apr 15, 2007, 07:05PM PDT | 0 comments


    Hal Heinze

    Cool down 2 years ago

    After 5 hours we have maple syrup. Now it is cooling down. Right at the start of the boiling process (when it is mostly water) I took some of the sap and used it to brew a cup a tea. The slightly sweet water made a nice undertone to the tea.

    Apr 14, 2007, 11:15AM PDT | 1 cheer | 2 comments


    Hal Heinze

    Boiling off the water 2 years ago

    Over the past few days ended up with just over 3 gallons of sap. The sap is mostly water so to get maple syrup you must boil the sap for many hours to evaporate the water and concentrate the natual sugars. I am told it takes about 6 hours. The volume will go down to about 1/30th so we should end up with about a cup and half of syrup.

    Apr 14, 2007, 06:34AM PDT | 0 comments


    Hal Heinze

    Tapped the Tree 2 years ago

    Decided this year to give it a go of making some maple syrup from the trees in my yard. A few days ago I tapped the large silver maple in my back yard and have collected just over a gallon of the maple sap (mostly water).

    I hope to boil it down this weekend to get the real maple syrup. Probably will only get enough for a couple of pancakes but maybe next year I will tap more trees.

    Also should note that the picture above was taken on April 11, 2007. Prince has a song called “Sometimes it Snows in April”...that is a very true statement in Minnesota. Luckily the temperatures are perfect for getting maple sap – below freezing at night and above freezing during the day is preferred for maximum sap production.

    Apr 12, 2007, 06:01AM PDT | 0 comments


    huntershiply

    Untitled 3 years ago

    when i lived on a farm in canada, we made maple syrup. it takes a reeeaaalllyy long time to boil down to the final product.

    Jun 24, 2006, 01:44PM PDT | 0 comments



     

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