Maple Syrup

I had the opporunity this afternoon to go to a sugar bush and help harvest some sap to be used in the making of Maple syrup.
I had read about it but never had the chance to do it. What a ball!
We harvested 120 gallons of sap from aproximately 100 trees in about 1 1/2 hours.

We will begin to boil it down tomorrow to make the actual syrup. It takes 40 gallons of sap to make 1 gallon of syrup.

Its supposed to snow tonight that is supposed to trigger the trees to make more sap.

Have any of you done this before. Alot of fun.

Paul

that sounds like alot of fun indeed. Can't say that I've ever done it before and can't say that I ever will as I don't know anyone who does anything like that.

That is a lot of sap to make a little syrup! But I am sure glad it gets done...Those maple bars would be mighty bland with out it!

Is the sap naturally sweet or do they have to add sugar to sweeten it?

Here in New Hampshire in the spring a lot of people make maple syrup. It's a lot of work, I've tapped about 20 trees before and sat up until midnight many a time boiling down sap. I didn't have a sap house, just boiled it down outside over an open fire with a big sap pan. It's really a blast if you like an occasional 'mint julip' while you're boiling down :>).

Zanymuse, No you don't have to add sugar, it's a natural sugar. In fact, if you continue to boil the sap down, it will crystalize and turn to sugar, thus maple sugar.

YUMM! It does sound like hard work but real maple sugar would be worth it!

Paul Lucky you went yesterday! ;] That sounds like fun!

I have done it before and it is a lot of fun, though some people would find it really slow and boring.

My Dad and brother have a small sugar camp in the woods on my Dad's farm. They still do it the old fashioned way collecting the sap in metal buckets and slowly boiling it in the large pan over a fire kept going from wood cut right there in the forest. They don't make alot. Just enough to keep the family supplied for the year with some left over to sell. I always loved helping out or at least as much as they would let a girl do. It is a great way to get back to nature and forget about real life for a while. No pressures. Just a lot of time to talk and think and enjoy the simple pleasures of this world.

I have been really spoiled by it though. Running out of maple syrup and having to eat pancakes with corn syrup like everyone else is the pits! My college roommate told me that I ought to write a book about all these things that I experienced growing up on a farm. That is when I realized just how different my early years were from most and just how lucky and priviledged I was. Not in a material sense but in my experiences and opportunities. I'm beginning to have an appreciation for what I did have.

Went back over this morning; brought out another 60 gallons of sap. It was colder this morning and we got about 4" of snow overnight so the sap flow has slowed down.
They started cooking this morning should have some syrup by this evening.

Paul

dh talks about his maple syrup days also.
his foundest memory was taking the sap and pouring it on fresh snow...said it made the best snow cone anyone could want.

MS i was about to asked paul if he had everhad snow candy are you using just a large pan or do you have a trough pan (sp}where you can just keep adding sap this should be a good year if the sap was all ready running with this cold now it will give at least two more weeks for the run

Several years ago, I visited my DD who was living in Indiana at the time. She was a journalist, and one of her weekly columns was a man-on-the-street thing, and she also covered the little towns in about a 30 mile radius. When I arrived in late March, numerous little towns were having festivals of one sort or another, with maple sap boiling, corn popping, applesauce making and I don't recall all of the foods being cooked out in the open. There were exhibits of handwork, one town had a little railroad museum, the Amish people were there in carriages. There were no gaudy lights, no dangerous rides, no ticket booths, it was just like a time warp. One town seemed to have turned it into garage sale weekend. I found glassware and fountain pens for my collections and left my address for people who later looked for things for me. Right on the streets, trees had buckets hanging on them with maple sap dripping into them. Those were for show, of course, and it's a good thing, because the uncouth public had dropped cigarette butts into many of the buckets. It was my only experience with gathering maple sap, but I love maple syrup and could finally understand why it was so expensive. I think it somehow helps to continue a way of life most people never see anymore.

Sugaring - what farmers do to keep themselves busy in February and March! We used to help some friends sugar many years ago (back when my kids were the same ages as my grandchildren). I drove the tractor for the gathering tanks and Stan helped with tapping, gathering and clean up after. We both loved it and talked about getting our own arch when we finally bought this place. Unfortunately, by the time we did buy the farm, the former owners had logged out the maple stand. Stan was at a farm just the other day and the farmer offered Stan his evaporator. It was very tempting, but it's hard to sugar when all the trees are gone!