Maple Syrup Making Time

February 19th, Trees are Tapped and Sap is Flowing!

2012-02-20T08:05:00.000-05:00

Ping, ping, ping....that's the sound we heard as we placed the pail on each hook. Music to a sap collector's ears. Well I should say that is the sound my husband and son heard. I was sick inside while they hung the pails. :( They said the sap was "flowing" out of each hole as they drilled it. Well probably not quite flowing but unusual none the less. Unusual because we normally tap before the sap actually begins to flow. But we blew it this year big time! Sap's been flowing almost a week already meaning we missed the early runs. That is a big deal as we love light early run syrup and the only way to get it is to tap yourselves. We are early run syrup snobs; I admit it.

Well today I'm feeling a tad better and it's February break so I can take my time setting up the evaporator, collecting sap, and boiling. This is a first. Usually during Feb.break I'm just gathering the stuff up and getting it ready for tapping the following weekend. It's been an unusually warm and snowless winter so this was to be expected. But even though we predicted it we still didn't get our act together in time.

Next post will be about drills and drill bits. Now that sounds exciting doesn't it!?
Happy tapping!
Mary

Tapping this weekend, really!

2012-02-18T08:33:00.003-05:00

Not the prettiest picture to start the 2012 maple season but critical none the less. I HATE using bleach for anything and this is probably the only time I use it. Bleach is only used on metal equipment, not on the plastic. Plastic is just washed well with soapy hot water and triple rinsed. If someone knows a "friendlier" way to sterilize pails etc. please let me know.

Well I wish I had tapped early in February when I said I would. But I didn't. And now I realize that I've missed 3-4 days of the first run of the season, which is my favorite. Bummer to say the least. In Maine they say Valentine's Day is the kick off of Maple season. Never in the past, at least for me, has sap flown that early. This year I think it did the next day. Note to self...next year be ready on Valentine's Day. So today I will begin sterilizing all our pails, etc and tap the trees. I'll have to get propane and get it all set up because I'm sure I'll be boiling by tomorrow. If you want to see what I'll be up to today to begin the season visit this link: http://dunnmaple.blogspot.com/2008/03/preparing-to-tap-trees.html and this link: http://dunnmaple.blogspot.com/2008/03/tapping-sugar-maple-trees_02.html

If you tap trees do post your progress letting us know how you are doing, tricks of your trade, and tips you may have to share. Thanks and may you have a tremendous syrup season!

Let the maple season begin!
Mary

Gonna Tap a Few Trees this Weekend

2012-02-06T20:10:00.000-05:00

This weekend is early for the sap season but I'm going to get all my equipment cleaned and sterilized and hang a pail or two. With this warm weather I just don't want to miss the first run.
I'll keep you posted.

Maple Sage Ice Cream and Maple Sage Walnuts

2012-01-29T09:31:00.002-05:00

This sounds interesting to say the least. I love maple syrup and I love sage and of course I love ice cream so this is worth remembering. I'll save it for a hot summer day when the garden has fresh sage and the pantry has jars of maple syrup.

http://www.food52.com/recipes/15540_maplesage_ice_cream_with_maplesage_sugared_walnuts

We're getting close!!! I may clean a bucket and hang it out. With this unseasonably warm winter we may have an early run?? I hear Northern VT is tapping!!
Have a great season and I'll post when I hear that first "ping".
Mary

Maple Pumpkin Scones

2012-01-12T18:14:00.000-05:00

These were good. Light and good with a cup of coffee. The brushing of syrup on top is a must!

The recipe is from a neat blog, Another Year Without Groceries, and is shown step by step here - http://networkedblogs.com/sgw3r

Enjoy!
Mary
PA- Can you tell I'm getting antsy for maple season to start?!

Maple Custard

2012-01-11T05:36:00.000-05:00

Looks great. Will try this year when the sap is flowing and the syrup is boiling

http://www.eatingfromthegroundup.com/?p=3902
For 9 1/2 pint servings. Looks yummy! Photos and recipe at the above link.

picture coming soon!

The Decline of the Maple Tree?

2012-01-07T20:35:00.000-05:00

Our Maple Trees on a Winter Day

Maple Syrup Being Studied in New Hampshire
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HzI1SbSpBZc

An interesting video clip of one woman's research on the connection between climate change and maple sap and syrup production. Citizen science anyone? We've lost 2 of our 13 maple trees since we've been here (the past 10 years) and the beautiful big tree by our pool is definitely in distress. Early leaf loss this year. Last year's syrup was dark. But that was only one year. It'll be interesting to see what happens this year with such a warm and mild winter so far and basically no snow.

Fingers are crossed for a good year despite the odd climate.

Christmas Presents

2012-01-02T21:23:00.000-05:00

Sweet Presents!

Every year I say that when I'm in the heat of making maple syrup I'll buy my 35 little jars and make them up so they are ready. Every year I don't do it. Maybe this year will be different.

Making Maple Cream

2011-12-02T18:46:00.000-05:00

Making Maple Cream....I wish I was writing this from experience but I'm not. I made maple cream years ago but it separated as quickly as it cooled. So here's a step by step recipe I found online. I'm going to give it a try. Looks wonderful. Here's the website the above photo came from and where you can follow step by step photo directions: http://www.americastestkitchenfeed.com/do-it-yourself/2011/11/how-to-make-maple-cream/

Let us know if you try it!
Mary

Maple Syrup Making and an Abolitionist Past?

2011-11-04T17:52:00.001-04:00

Great article from The Atlantic entitled, Making the Grade. Discusses some interesting history of maple syrup making and an interesting viewpoint on the "best" grade of maple syrup. Also a blurb on the changes to the grading system that is coming? This is the first I've heard of this.

Anyway a good read: http://www.theatlantic.com/life/archive/2011/05/making-the-grade-why-the-cheapest-maple-syrup-tastes-best/239133/

Enjoy!
Mary

Healthful Maple Syrup

2011-06-02T15:33:00.001-04:00

The story about the benefits of maple syrup below, Healthful Maple Syrup, is written
by The National Gardening Association

Maple syrup is good for you. This is the kind of nutritional news we need to hear more often!

University of Rhode Island researcher Navindra Seeram, who specializes in studying medicinal plants, found more than 20 compounds in maple syrup that have been linked to human health, some of them newly discovered in the maple family for the first time. Among these new antioxidants are compounds that have been reported to have anti-cancer, anti-bacterial, and anti-diabetic properties.

Seeram notes that although these beneficial compounds are probably found in low concentrations in the tree's sap, they are likely to be concentrated when the sap is boiled down to make maple syrup. Some of the antioxidants found, called phenolics, are in the same class of healthful compounds as are found in berries. He speculates that phenolics may be formed as a defense mechanism by the maple tree in response to being wounded when a tap is inserted to gather the sap.

More research is planned to study and quantify the beneficial properties of maple syrup. In the meantime, you can feel good about dousing your breakfast pancakes and waffles with the sweet stuff. And if you're really ambitious, plant some sugar maples and make your own!

Yeah! Enjoy this delicious sweetener,
Mary

Last Day of the 2009 Season

2011-04-10T14:23:00.001-04:00

Out with the sap pails (in background) and in with pussy willows. The 2011 Maple Season is over. What a great season it was.

Sap pails are all down and waiting for a good cleaning before putting away for another season.

Before we end here I just want to share a set up that a woman over on the coast uses to boil her sap. I really am thinking of switching, as least partially, over to wood next year. I hate using propane. This looks like a simple design to begin with. The only thing I can think of that I'd want to adapt is to include something for the smoke and ash. I'm wondering about the type of wood used to burn. Kelly used pine. I think pine is smoky? Not sure what that will be or how that will look but I've begun looking around already. So thanks Kelly from Romney Ridge Farm, where the yarn is beautiful and the sheep are happy.

Last week we boiled maple sap in my classroom. We boiled a gallon each day and then the 5th day we finished the boiling off. We celebrated with some vanilla ice cream with maple syrup. It's funny, you just automatically think kids from Maine know this process. They don't. At least those kids from in town and with low economic means. This was as much a learning experience and treat for them as it would be from someone from another state. Glad we spent the week with the process. Tomorrow we will filter and bottle up the syrup.The most common comments were, "wow this room smells really good!" and "I can't believe how much sap it takes to make this tiny amount of syrup."

Now on to gardening! As we leave early spring and the maple season behind I'd like to wish you all a happy late spring and beginning to your gardening season (if you garden).
Mary

Dark Syrup and A Red Squirrel Legend

2011-04-03T18:23:00.006-04:00

Was this the original discoverer of sweet maple sap?

Legend about the red squirrel is below but first I want to post an update of my final syrup production. We've finally got the dark dark syrup I've been waiting for but it wasn't until after sliding on some ice and spilling a gallon of it all over the place! I got home from taking my son to the train station and grabbed the large pot full of at least 1 gallon of sap/almost syrup that I didn't totally finish off yesterday. It was sitting in a cool mud room until I could get to it today. I put on my shoes and headed out the door, pot of sap/syrup in hands, to start the boiling. As soon as my shoes hit the ground, which was covered with ice, my feet went out from under me and I landed flat on my back with syrup all over me and all over our door. None left in the pan. After I cleaned the mess up I grabbed the other few gallons of sap/syrup and started again. Now it's several hours later and this syrup is dark! Definitely the end of the season dark. Even the froth I skimmed off was dark. This is exactly what I wanted. Good thing!

While the syrup was boiling I went out back to check the trees. I knew I wasn't going to keep all the sap because my 2nd burner bit the dust and I'm not about to buy a new one this late in the season. I'm bummed because I bought a new hose for it and that didn't wind up helping after all. The 3 biggest trees all had a pail full of clear sap so I harvested them. The others had small amounts of cloudy sap. I dumped them. The clear sap will go to school tomorrow and I'll boil it up in class so the kids can see the process. I am not gathering any more sap this season even though I think we'll continue getting sap for a few more day.

On a different note and back to that pesky red squirrel question. I have heard the Native American spin on the history of the discovery of maple syrup but that book I have, the Maine Maple Pancakes book, has a section on the history of maple syrup that is a bit different than the legend I have read. It shared a new one that I found interesting and had never heard before. Let me begin by saying that all winter we have watched this red squirrel (actually there are two of them) play in our maple tree and eat bird seed from the feeder hanging in that same tree. The story in the book starts with the author's trip to Plimoth Plantation down in Plymouth MA. During her trip she finds a pilgrim (who stays in historically accurate character) and askes him about maple syrup. He doesn't know what it is and says the Indians don't have any. This author believes that Native Americans did not discover maple sap/syrup but rather something showed the Indians maple sap/syrup. She claims that the red squirrel, Tamiasciurus hudsonicus, was the first to discover the sweetness of maple sap. She says the red squirrel, the chatterer, has been around since the Ice Age (like 11,000 years ago)and has been observed chewing into sugar maple trees and drinking the sap that oozes out. I wonder if drinking all that sugary maple sap causes the behavior that led to the nickname, the chatterer?! Also, red squirrels have even been observed leaving the oozing sap and returning later when the ooze has evaporated and hardened and sweetened to drink it. This rodent is the only rodent she has observed harvesting sap. Her guess is that Native Americans observed this and learned from the red squirrel. I thought that was interesting and has caused me to watch our red squirrels with new interest.

Hope you had a great maple season this year. I know we did. Almost made it to 4 gallons of syrup. Not bad figuring all the sap I accidentally spilled this year!

May you enjoy your sweet syrup all year long,
Mary

Maple Whoopie Pie

2011-04-02T20:32:00.000-04:00

Maple Whoopie Pie

Just had to post this. While I'm not a real big whoopie pie fan many, many Mainers are. There has been quite a bit of deliberation lately over whoopie pies. So when I saw this one I thought I just had to post. So here's the link to the "Maine" Maple Whoopie Pie recipe:
http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/maple-walnut-whoopie-pies-recipe

Let us know if you make it and how it turns out. Another way to enjoy maple syrup!
Enjoy!
Mary

Burner Issues

2011-04-02T14:28:00.003-04:00

Turns out this was all I needed to get my burner back on track. Went looking at Home Depot for a turkey fryer and found this instead. Worked like a charm. Being that we're on big box store purchases, I try like heck not to visit large box stores and for the most part I'm fairly successful with this, but this was the only place I found this. Went to 3 local hardware stores first with no success. Another big box store that I avoid like the plague is WalMart. I never go in that store. But I'm in a dilema because while my husband was online looking for turkey fryers for me he found this absolutely perfect unit. But...we can only find it at WalMart. Check this link out to see what I mean: http://www.walmart.com/ip/King-Kooker-25-Tall-Heavy-Duty-Portable-Propane-Double-Burner-Outdoor-Cooker-Camp-Stove/10661037 (Sorry this isn't an active link. It's too long to work with the link creator) This unit would fit my homemade evaporator beautifully. I'm thinking I may break down and get this for next year. We'll see.

Well, I've got over 40 gallons of sap to boil down and am thankful to have the 2 burners going again. I did notice the sap today is starting to get cloudy and yellowish. So I dumped the pails. Looks like end of season sap. I will boil what I got Thursday until the propane runs out and then that will be it for the season. I'm really hoping I can get some real dark syrup for baking out of this.

Hope your season has been a good one.
Mary

Snow, Sap, and Scones

2011-04-01T19:50:00.001-04:00

This is the mother of all pails. I get more sap from this pail than any other one. It's the oldest and largest maple tree on our property. I'm assuming size of tree (due to age and health) has something to do with the amount of sap.

Today during a huge snow storm I went out with the dogs to look in the pails. I didn't expect to see much sap in any of them. Every pail was full, overflowing, or close to full! And the sap was liquid, not solid ice. I swear I can't figure this out! I couldn't empty the pails because I didn't have any room in my 2 huge containers to dump the sap into as they are both full. I couldn't boil today because I was out of propane and my son had the car. So I figure the sap will be fine in the pails until tomorrow when I begin boiling again.

Boiling...I've got a possible issue here too. Last time I was boiling I smelled gas. That is never a good sign. I have stopped using the cooker (turkey cooker) that I think the smell is coming from. I'm bummed because it's the newer of the two burners. I will go somewhere to have the tubing that runs from the tank to the burner checked out but I think the place that can check the line is closed tomorrow. Major bummer because we are overflowing with sap! So this weekend we're back to one burner. I will still try the evaporator on it and see if the one burner can handle it. We'll see.

This is the inside of the mother of all pails. You can see it is very full and this photo was taken about 1 in the afternoon. Still the rest of the day to go. And it, and all the other taps, were all dripping like mad.

Baxter in the sugar bush during our April Fools snowstorm. And he was so happy! Running and diving in the snow like a happy fox, wagging his tail like mad the whole time.

Future maple tapping trees. These are about 10 years old. They should be ready just when our present bush is going by.

Taking a break.

Being that I wasn't boiling sap or collecting sap and being it was snowing to beat the band I decided to make some maple scones. This recipe comes from that Maine Maple Beyond Pancakes cookbook. And they are perfect to have with a cup of tea or coffee.

Maine Maple Nut Scones: (I like these because they are not real sweet but my husband doesn't. So to give it a bit more flavor I would add a tsp of vanilla and a dash more maple syrup. That should work)
2 Cups flour. I did 1/2 white and 1/2 wheat pastry
1 TBSP baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt (I use less)
1/4 cup cold butter (real butter is a must!)
1/2 cups finely chopped pecans (I only had walnuts but think pecans would be better)
1/3 cup cream (I used 1/2 and 1/2)
1/4 pure Maine maple syrup (of course you can use other state syrups....but I banish the thought!) I also used the darkest I had on hand
1 whole egg (hope you use local eggs; if not at least use cage free eggs)
1 egg yolk

Stir together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Cut in cold butter to resemble coarse crumbs. Add the finely chopped pecans.
Combine cream, maple syrup, and whole egg and stir into dry ingredients just enough to hold dough together.
Turn on oven to 400 degrees to preheat
Knead for scone dough for a quick 30 seconds; just to begin to shape.
pat to a 1/2 inch thick circle and cut into wedges. 8 is a good number.
Mix egg yolk with 1 TBSP water and brush tops of scones with it.
Place scones one inch apart on BUTTERED cookie sheet and bake for 15 minutes or until brown. It took mine 17 minutes.
Enjoy!

Hope you are enjoying your snowy day and your maple syrup,
Mary

April Fools? More Snow in the Forcast

2011-03-31T19:25:00.001-04:00

Love the look of this photo because it means that another batch of syrup has been made.

We're suppose to get up to a foot of snow tomorrow so maybe I'll be able to begin boiling tomorrow instead of Saturday. The past two days I've come home to overflowing pails on almost every tree. The temps dip below freezing at night and then up in the 40's during the day. Perfect! Unfortunately I haven't been able to boil the sap so I have it stored in large containers surrounded by snow. It'll be a boiling weekend, that's for sure. I haven't decided if I'll continue collecting next week or if this weekend I'll end.

One batch of syrup, while it tastes fine, came out very cloudy. I'm researching why that happens. I've never had that happen before. It was a mid-season run. Once I figure out what that means I'll post what I find. If anyone out there has any thoughts please share :)

As March leaves us and April arrives with the gusto of an early March day I look forward to what might be my last big boiling of the season.
Mary

Free Form Sap Ice

2011-03-28T18:11:00.004-04:00

These ice chunks were brought into our house yesterday noonish. This photo was taken 28 hours later! These just don't want to melt. I can only assume that the coldness of each block keeps the other blocks cold so slow to melt?

Now the experiment begins. I've wondered if ice chunks in the sap buckets are all ice water or do they have any sap. I've poured out liquid sap and collected the ice sap and wondered if the ice are worth using or if I should just pitch them. Now I will find out. I'm making a batch with just sap ice. We'll see if I get any syrup from them.

Stay tuned!

Something I tried last night and it was rather unusual tasting was coffee made from maple sap. Now this sap is getting on to end of the season sap so it should have a stronger flavor. And boy did I taste the flavor! Definitely added a distinctive flavor to my unflavored coffee. It's worth trying once. I'm not sure I liked it but will try it again to see.

Also...a note on filtering. If you don't filter your final syrup please consider it. I've noticed, especially as we get later in the sap/syrup season, that my filter gets clogged with gooey yucky stuff. In the middle of filtering I have to stop to rinse the filters thoroughly just to finish getting all the syrup filtered. I realized while I was washing the filters out (I do a double filter) how important it is to filter your syrup. I can't imagine all that glop in the final syrup.

I hope you are enjoying this great maple season as much as I am. As always, may your sap flow quickly and may your syrup be clear and sweet,
Mary

Maine Maple Sunday and Trivia

2011-03-27T09:54:00.004-04:00

http://www.mainemapleproducers.com/maine-maple-sunday-map.html
Maine Maple Sunday today! Map at the link above will give you info on what's going on where.

http://www.mainemapleproducers.com/beyond_pancakes.html
See the link above? It'll take you to a wonderful book on cooking with maple syrup, Maine maple syrup. You can see the book in the picture above too. The book is more than a cook book. The historical and cultural discussion at the beginning of this book is so nicely written that it's a joy to read. I'm going to share some of what the book says here. I'm thinking that would be OK with Elizabeth Hodgkins, author of the book.

So here's what I learned from Elizabeth -
*Her family's favorite Sunday supper growing up was pancakes with peanut butter and maple syrup! I'm not kidding! Talk about stick to your ribs. Out of curiosity I might try it, just a little though.

*Sugaring-off - the final few seconds; the sap is syrup now'draw it off; get it off the fire!

*Maple syrup is a nutrient liquid (thank goodness!:)

*Minerals and vitamins present in maple syrup: potassium, calcium, phosphorus, manganese, iron, magnesium, vitamins B2, B5 and niacin, biotin, and folic acid.This was taken from "Nutritional Value of Maple Syrup" from National Maple Syrup Digest.

*Sucrose is the main sugar found in the lighter amber syrups, while fructose and glucose appear in the darker amber syrups.

Cooking conversions:
*Use 3/4 cup pure maple syrup for each cup of sugar. Then decrease the dominant liquid in your recipe by 3 TBSP.

*Add 1/4-1/2 tsp baking soda to dry ingredients. Maple syrup has a slight acidity which needs to be neutralized for batter to rise properly. DO NOT add baking soda if the recipe calls for buttermilk, sour milk, or sour cream.

*Decrease oven temp by 25 degrees since baked goods will brown and bake quicker when using maple syrup.

***Cooking with Maple Syrup - www.yankeegrocery.com

Grades:
*Light Amber (my favorite!) lightest colored grade; produced near the beginning of the sugaring season when sap is sweetest and doesn't require as much time to boil down to the proper density for syrup.. Very delicate maple flavor. A must for making maple candy (I personally can't imagine using my first runs syrup for maple candy!)

*Medium Amber - many call this their favorite table syrup. Slightly darker than lighter amber a a bit stronger flavored.

*Dark Amber and Extra Dark Amber syrups are darker and stronger tasting. Good for baking. These grades are produced towards the ene of the season when days and nights are a bit warmer and sap has a lesser sugar content. It takes longer to boil down to syrup, thus the darkenss. ...I use to be a dark amber snob. I'd stop my production when this was what was being developed. But then I came across that maple cream cake recipe and now I'm going to boil right through to the end of the season this year! I'm finally going to convert to dark maple syrup in my baking.

The MOLD controversy: I have read that if you don't can your syrup right and mold develops on it you can just scoop the mold off and it'll be fine. Then I read that was not true. Now this book comes out and is highly endorsed by the Maine Maple Syrup Producers and it says that you can just get rid of the mold. Here's what it says....Simply bring the syrup to a boil in a pan, remove from heat, skim off the mold and/or strain through cheesecloth or the like. Pour mold-free syrup into a clean container and return to refrig or can. Syrup will be like new, safe and ready to use!

That's it for the trivia today. I'll add another posting that explains making maple syrup and the history at a later time.

Now off to enjoy our first tasting of some french toast and our first run maple syrup!

As always, may your sap flow freely and your syrup be sweet.
Mary

MidSeason

2011-03-26T14:59:00.001-04:00

It's so windy that we are back inside the garage boiling sap today. Just couldn't not boil today when we have so much sap. But it's so windy and down right chilly (32F) outside so we moved the operation to the edge of the garage. We use to do this years ago. I prefer being out back because it's easier to keep an eye on things. But the wind would just use up all our propane. I hate using propane to begin with, the last thing I want to do is have it go to waste.

I began today with a little over 2 gallons canned and added another today. The earlier syrup from this week was a mid-season color. But judging by the color of the syrup we boiled up today we're coming close to the end of the season. We only made it 1/2 way through Wednesday's and Thursday's sap. We still have Friday's collection to boil. I didn't even check today since it was so cold and windy.

As always, may your sap boil quickly and may your syrup be sweet,
Mary

Its Been a Great Week!

2011-03-25T19:30:00.003-04:00

If you look closely and/or blow up this picture you can see that it's snowing! I don't think I've ever boiled sap during a snow before. It was kind of fun actually. Thought about stopping but it was so cool that I didn't.

What a great week for collecting maple sap and making maple syrup! Almost everyday this week we've gotten at least 1 gallon per tree. Even with all the snow and snow showers we've gotten the sap was still flowing. Today I spent the entire day boiling sap and I'm about 1/2 way done. Looks like this weekend will be a boiling kind of weekend. No other plans but to tend the boiling sap!

Although Sunday is Maine Maple Sunday. The post below has a link to the Maine Maple Syrup Producers website and they have a listing and map of all the activities going on around the state Sunday.

Happy boiling!
Mary

Maine Maple Sunday

2011-03-24T05:49:00.002-04:00

This weekend!!
http://www.mainemapleproducers.com/

Sap is Really Flowing!

2011-03-24T05:43:00.000-04:00

Had to pull out the second large tub to hold yesterday's sap. Amazing sap flow this week. Even with the nice snow fall earlier in the week and the spitting of snow yesterday, it's definitely full swing maple syrup season! I hoped it would be a good run this year and happily it is.

That's it for now.
May your sap flow freely and your syrup be sweet,
Mary
Tomorrow I'm going to post about Maple Sunday events that are being held around the state this weekend. I'm thinking about heading east for it!

Signs of Spring; Snow, Rain, Mud, First Robin, and Sap

2011-03-22T17:07:00.002-04:00

It happened again today. While I was driving home it was drizzling. Then when I was getting boots on to go outside it had turned to a very wet snow. As I checked pails on the trees for sap the snow stopped. Then I heard that magical sound...a robin! As I type this I'm watching the first red winged blackbird of the season eat from the ground under the feeder. A goldfinch is yellow and the sky is snowing wet snow again. What happened again today is the pails were very full of sap, just like yesterday. At first glance it's not the nicest day outside. But when you get out there and experience that first robin of the year sound it's clear that outside is the perfect place to be.

So, the sap is boiling and there's lots more to go.
Happy spring everyone!
Mary

It's Snowing and Tons of Sap to Boot!

2011-03-21T17:57:00.002-04:00

I can't figure this sap flow thing out! When I think there is no way the sap is flowing I check to find pails almost over flowing! That's what happened today. It's 32 degrees F and each pail was 1/2 - 3/4 full of sap. And each tap was dripping that wonderful liquid! Go figure!!!

Hot Syrup, A Broken Jar, and the First Day of Spring

2011-03-20T19:56:00.000-04:00

Happy Spring!

After witnessing the rise of the special moon last night I canned the 1 1/2 gallons of syrup we made this weekend. The very last quart canning jar cracked and broke as I poured the 180 degree F syrup into it. I have filled easily 100 jars over the years with hot 180 degree syrup and this has never happened before! What a mess! I just wanted to post this as a heads up. I will from now on put the canning jar inside a pan or pot and pour the hot syrup into it.

A Gallon of Syrup and A Heavy Heart

2011-03-20T10:05:00.001-04:00

This is a blog about a rite of spring that is as old as the hills. It's about collecting sap and making maple syrup. It's not about personal lives, just about being outdoors in the spring, noticing and celebrating spring changes, and mostly it's just about the maple syrup. But this year it's hard not to notice and comment on the personal side of this year's collection of sap and making of the syrup. It's funny that the past two Marches our family has experienced major changes. Changes that were not easy to go through at the time but changes that moved us forward none the less. This year is no exception.

All week I've watched my husband and best friend gather sap for me. This is not usually something he participates in. He knows it's "my thing". He sees that I need it, it's how I reconnect with the outdoors and gear up for planting. I need it to unwind from the stresses of working with kids all day at a time of year where we all suffer from cabin fever. But this year is different. This year he needs it. I see it. I recognize that need. It's as clear as the nose on his face. I watch him quietly trudge out back two dogs in tow, put on his snowshoes, gather the pails and line them up on the toboggan, and proceed to gather sap. He walks from tree to tree and meticulously, gently, gathers sap and dumps each pailful into the large tub. I watch him. He is a million miles away.

For 22 years he has run programs that help those in dire need. Those who have come to the end of the line. Those who have struggled with, and not so successfully, that monster we recognize as substance abuse. They've struggled with it to the point that they have lost children to it, lost partners to it, lost themselves to it. You see our state, well I should say 1/3 of our state, elected a new governor this year. He sees it in his mission to close the state's 13 substance abuse treatment programs. My husband runs two of them. If this goes through his 22 years of hard work and successes will end for him and many others like him. But worse, it will end that only life support that so many desperately need. I wish I could say I like our new governor but I can't. I have watched him come in like a bull in a china shop and work to dismantle almost everything our state stands for. I wish I could say he is a good man, I cannot.

Over the past few years we have bottled our syrup for the folks my husband works with. They make nice Christmas presents. Because the weather seems perfect for a good syrup year we had decided that this year was going to be a Christmas present year. That brings a new meaning to our work this year. What will we do with our bottles of syrup ten months from now? So, this year as we gather and boil sap the passage and purpose it represents has a new meaning. What this change will do to Ger I don't know but can only hope it will again be the beginning of something positive.

May your sap boil quickly and may your syrup be sweet,
Mary
PS Check this out- Channel 5 does a video clip of UMaine Maple Syrup production: http://www.wabi.tv/news/18724/u-maine-forest-welcomes-maple-syrup-season

First Boil of the '11 Season!

2011-03-12T15:13:00.005-05:00

Finally we're boiling sap today! Great thing to do while I sit here working on report cards, parent/teacher conferences, and planning for next week. I'm a teacher if you didn't know. Teach 4th grade and can't wait to share this process with the kids!

The weather definitely feels a bit different today. Warmer, more spring like. That nip in the air is missing.

As you can see from the above picture we began with a bunch of ice chunks as well as liquid sap. The chunks were in the pails that hang from the trees. Earlier in the week the temps were dropping to freezing at the time I was getting around to collecting the sap. I've wondered about the ice in pails. Does the sugar freeze with the water or no? Should I assume that if it's ice it's just water and so should just chuck it? If you know do let us know!

1st run sap boiling in the evaporator that my good friend Liz gave me. Thanks Liz! I have to thank her every time I pull this out and use it :) It's 3ish and we've been boiling since about 9 this morning. Boiled the first batch down and it's finishing off on the kitchen stove as I boil the second batch of the year, yesterday's run, outside. One thing to always keep in mind is the boiling sap. We never want the sap to boil over. What a mess!!! So whether you're boiling outside or on your kitchen stove, keep an eye on it at all times. Another thing...I finish my sap/syrup inside but do the vast majority of boiling outside. You would never want to do your boiling of sap inside. All that evaporating moisture would make an absolute mess of your walls, ceiling, and windows. Ask me how I know this!

NOTE: When we collected sap today several of the pails had yellow sap in them again. We dumped as much as we kept. So I called 3 local maple syrup producers to ask what they recommend. The first place I called said it was fine to keep and boil. But that just didn't sound right to me. My gut says to dump it. So I called another one. She said to dump it, that it would contaminate the other batches. So just to be sure I called a third place...a BIG producer. He said he would dump it too. Then he said something that made a lot of sense. He asked what the yellow sap tasted like. He said that if the sap had an off flavor we wouldn't want to make syrup out of it. That was logical! So I went to look at a pail with yellow sap in it but decided there was now way I was going to taste that. So I guess that was my answer. Dump went the yellow sap.

Scooping the foam off. Some books say you can put little dabs of butter on the boiling sap to lessen the foam but I just scoop it off.

After 3 hours of boiling the sap it is ready to be finished off inside on my kitchen stove. Notice the darker color. It already is smelling nice.

While my sap finishes boiling on the kitchen stove I get my supplies ready for filtering the finished syrup. I just use a jam making set up. That's the metal stand you see. It has a ring around the top. See....

Then I put two filters in it. The outer filter is a very heavy filter specifically for straining maple syrup. You need to thoroughly wet this and wring it out good before putting the finished hot syrup through it. Inside the outer heavy filter is a thinner filter. Also made for maple syrup making and also wet and wrung. I've read you can use clean flannel cloth or cheese cloth and they work the same. I used cheese cloth in my early years of this.

Looking like it might be ready. Checked it with the hydrometer...not ready yet. I know this because when I set the hydrometer set up up (that sounds a bit weird) the hydrometer sunk to the bottom. It bobs and floats when the syrup is ready.

Hydrometer for measuring sugar density of finished syrup

Back to boiling. Three minutes later I check again. It's done! So this is what it looks like when it's boiling and it's done. Notice the bubbles. Wish you could smell this!! OMG, it's heaven!

A bobbing hydrometer with the red Brix line right at the top of the syrup. It's syrup!

Another way to check if the syrup is done is to measure the temperature. I use to use a thermometer like this:

The thermometer should be able to read up to at least 225 degrees F. Supposedly sap has turned into finished syrup when the temperature has reached. Water boils at 212 degrees F when the barometric pressure is 29.92. To be honest this was always a bit too much for me. A better way is determine the temperature of boiling water on the day you're making syrup. Just put the thermometer in a pan of water or better yet, sap, and bring to a boil. Notice the temp. when it starts to boil. Then to determine when your syrup is done add 7.1 degrees to that temp. Boil your sap until it reaches that temp. When it does you should have maple syrup! The thermometer I use(ed) has a nice adjustable hook on the back so it clasps onto the pan at any height I set. But to be honest the more you do this and the closer you watch the sap right at this point you will begin to get a feel for when you've reached syrup. I notice a sheen over the syrup amidst a ton of small bubbles. I have a video clip somewhere in this blog of that precise moment that syrup is reached. I'll look for it and post a link to it here once I find it.

Filtering the hot syrup.

Voila! Finished syrup. First run of the year. My favorite!! Pour into clean jars and seal. NOTE: To "can" syrup, bring the syrup to 180 degrees F, pour into extremely clean jars, and cap with new lids and band (band doesn't have to be new). Lay on it's side and voila! You've got "canned" syrup. I date mine on the lids.

Off to finish boiling a second batch and collect today's run.
Happy Syrup Season!
Mary
PS- As I sat here typing I noticed this little gutsy gold finch trying to perch on the edge of the boiling pan and trying to get a drink of water! Wow! Hope it's OK! There, I chased it away.

The Best Ever Simple Maine Maple Cream Cake

2011-03-09T17:55:00.001-05:00

Grade B is the real dark syrup all the way on the right

Leah Palumbo’s Simple Maple Cream Cake Makes 1 13-by-9-inch cake
This is from the Boston Globe. I am going to rename it... Jen's Maple Birthday Cake because I made it for our literacy specialist who has worked with me all year. Happy March Birthday Jen!

Buy 1 quart of heavy cream, and you’ll have enough left after whipping the 1½ cups for the cake to top with a maple whipped cream which really is a MUST! Just before serving, whip the remaining cream with about 3 tablespoons of maple syrup, or a good glob to taste and top each piece of cake with a little dollop. (Note: I used a higher grade maple syrup for the whipped cream, but maybe you can use grade B and it's OK) This cake is a class favorite in teacher Leah Palumbo’s kindergarten at the Waldorf School of Lexington...and became my class's favorite too!

Butter, for the pan
Flour, for the pan
3 cups all-purpose flour
1½ teaspoons baking powder
1½ teaspoons baking soda
Pinch Salt
1½ cups heavy cream, chilled
2 large eggs, beaten
1½ cups Grade B maple syrup (this is the late season dark syrup)
1½ teaspoons vanilla extract

Set the oven rack in the middle position and heat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour a 13-by-9-inch baking pan, tap out the excess flour, and set aside. I didn't preheat the oven until I was blending the dry and moist ingredients together.

In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and ½ teaspoon salt. With a hand-held or standing mixer, whip the cream until it holds firm peaks, about 2½ minutes. Add the eggs, Grade B dark maple syrup, and vanilla, and beat to blend. Add the flour mixture and beat until wet and dry ingredients are just incorporated (do not overmix).

With a flexible spatula, scrape the batter into the baking pan, smooth the top, and bake until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean and the edges of the cake begin to pull away from the pan, about 40-45 minutes. Place the cake on a wire rack, cool to room temperature, cut into squares,top with maple whipped cream,and serve.

1st Real Sap Flow and Harvest!

2011-03-08T19:45:00.002-05:00

Val's Wintery Afternoon Drip by:Val Schmitt

I just liked the above photo when I saw it. Val, from my spinning group took it. It's obviously not a maple tree but it captured the look and feel of collecting tree sap today. Driving to work this morning and home again this afternoon was just beautiful. Glass. That's what all the trees looked like. And the way the sun hit them from a low angle in the sky just made them and their colors all the more mesmerizing to look at.

When I got home I quickly changed into my jeans and grabbed the sap buckets. I knew today would be a good day for sap! Our first this year. The dogs and I went out and crunched and slid the whole way out back. Once the snowshoes were on I was more steady on my feet. They have claws on the bottom. Good thing because over the deep snow was a thick layer of solid ice. So the walking was easy. I never feel through once. Heaven! I got about 10 gallons of sap today but had to dump half of it. I really need to look into this discolored sap thing that's going on this year. Although not as many trees had it today as the other day. The other day when we collected we had to dump every single pail because of the discolored sap. Today was just a few. The big tree way out back was overflowing with sap but it was all a brownish yellow so it all got dumped. Ouch! Most of the pails had big chunks of ice in them too. The sap hadn't thawed all the way through from the freezing temperatures last night. Here's a picture of one pail's yellowish frozen sap. Heartbreaking.

That just doesn't look right. The sap should be clear; like clean water. I've read that sap can turn from clear to yellowish later in the season when the trees begin to bud, indicating the end of the season. I also read that it can mean the sap is spoiled and temperature changes can play a part. So even though I haven't found out exactly what is causing this off color my gut tells me it's not good. So until I read or hear otherwise I will continue to dump such sap. The time, energy, and expense of collecting and boiling sap for syrup doesn't justify keeping anything less than top quality sap.

Here's a pail today with some ice melting and dripping off the lid. It really was pretty outside today. Another reason I love maple syrup making. It's just a great way to get outdoors during the weeks of late winter and early spring.

If you'd like to read some real good science on sap go to this great biology of sap flow website: http://employees.csbsju.edu/ssaupe/biol327/lab/maple/maple-sap.htm

Happy collecting and boiling!
Mary

Ice

2011-03-07T18:31:00.002-05:00

Sites such as this was common in Central Maine late this afternoon.

I left work and proceeded to scrap a nice layer of ice off my car. Then I slid out of the school's parking lot. As I got closer to the town I live in I found myself in awe looking at the ice covered trees. Many of them, the birch in particular, bending over like they were offering a gift or taking one from the Earth. As I reminisced of the ice storm some 12 years ago I of course was thinking about collecting sap in this weather. To put it bluntly, I didn't. I got home and let the dogs out and that's when it really hit me how much this was looking like AND sounding like that ice storm. I was struck how the cracking sound of the ice on the trees' branches hitting each other really shot me back into time. I decided I did not want a repeat of yesterday's collection so I went back inside and threw a log on the fire, made a cup of coffee and played with my dogs. So much for sap adventures today!

Ice Under Foot

Stay dry, warm, and safe today,
Mary

Maple Smash

2011-03-06T15:23:00.000-05:00

Grade B Syrup is the Jar on the Extreme Right

In light of the last post I felt I should share this recipe that was in the Boston Globe magazine this morning. It's for "Maple Smash"

So if you find yourself having the worst ever sap collecting day take heed in this very delicious sounding recipe!

According to the Globe Magazine:
"This drink is basically a whiskey smash with maple syrup standing in for sugar."

1/2 lemon, cut into 4 pieces
12 mint leaves, 2 leaves reserved for garnish
Ice, cracked or in small cubes
5 oz bourbon
3 TBSP Grade B maple syrup (so it's a dark syrup like the one on the extreme right in the photo above...very late season)

In a cocktail shaker, muddle the lemon and mint. Fill the shaker about halfway with ice and add the bourbon and maple syrup. Cover and shake to blend and chill, almost 15 seconds. Fill two Old Fashioned glasses about halfway with ice, divide the mixture between them, garnish each with a reserved mint leaf, and serve at once!

Enjoy!
Mary

Rain, Yellow Sap, and Falling in Snow

2011-03-06T15:08:00.000-05:00

Thank you Baxter for keeping me company today!

Yuck! What a sap gathering expedition today was! As you can see from the title it was not a fun experience. Worst sap collection trip I've ever had. Never have I disliked collecting sap...until today.

It first began with getting the propane. I stood in the rain waiting for the propane guy to come outside and fill the tank. I got wet, to say the least. Then it continued with, you guessed it... the rain. It's pouring! Then came the snowshoes. Every step I took I sunk up to my knees! What the heck!? If that wasn't bad enough almost every tree's pail was 1/2 full of a yellowish liquid. Dump goes every single pail. All that wet and all that work getting to each tree only to be greeted with dump quality sap. Came back home soaked from head to toe, literally. And empty handed to boot. Was all ciked for a heavy boiling day only to find myself sitting in front of this laptop complaining to who ever is out there listening.

Oh well, hope tomorrow's sap collection goes better!
Stay dry and may your pails be full of crystal clear sap,
Mary

Rain, Sleet, Snow..Oh My!

2011-03-05T09:22:00.001-05:00

Frozen Sap!

What a wintery mix we will be having this first weekend of March and I'm hoping the first weekend of boiling sap. As I sit here and watch water from the sky change states from rain, to snow, to sleet, and back to rain again (it is March in Maine after all) I'm reminded of a few of the absolutely wonderful properties of water! Water. Imagine what our world would be like if water did not change states. What if water was always liquid? Or always solid? We would never be able to collect liquid sap! We wouldn't be able to boil it to the point of evaporation and turn it into that delicious syrup! OH NO! Or what if it was only gas? Water. Would maple trees, any trees for that matter, be here? Wow! Life as we know it wouldn't exist on this planet. So when you go out to begin your annual collection of that magnificent watery liquid we call sap take a minute to tap (hahaha) or hug that tree and show your appreciation for water as we know it.

Yesterday at school we were talking about water and science. Such a common simple everyday thing for most of us. Water. Yet the most precious resource we have on our planet. Watch any person who has to carry water for miles just to drink and cook with it and you get a different and very real perspective of just how vital and precious this resource is. Water. There is not a topic in life or earth science that I can think of where water doesn't play some important role. Deserts - lack of water. Rocks - water weathers them, moves them, presses on them. Cells - water makes them up! Nutrition - water is essential. Food - water makes up some part of all our food supply. Bridges - they go over water and are made of materials that in their natural state either comprised of water or interacted with water. Weather - WATER and wind that moves water! Water. It's everywhere and in everything! Water is a big deal!

Several properties of water all at the same time!

As we watch our liquid sap boil away into the air as water droplets (steam) and as gas (water vapor) take a few moments to think about what you can do in your life to celebrate water. What can you do to preserve this precious resource so your children and their children have it in abundance? Simple things like turning the water off when you're brushing your teeth or shaving or washing the dishes. Gosh I HATE when I see water running as people scrub dishes or their teeth or shaving! I just for the life of me can't just sit there without going over to that faucet and turning it off. Do less laundry. Does that clean pants or shirt after just a few hours of wear and with no noticable stains or smells really need to be washed or can they be pressed and worn one more time? Showers.....Can you challenge yourself and your family to take 4 minute showers? If that seems impossible (it's not) then can you gradually cut a few minutes off your showers until you get to a 4 or 5 minute shower? Can you give up baths for showers? Oh, now this is hurting me here! Giving up baths was the hardest thing for me to do. And I'm not going to lie and say I don't miss them. I do! But how can we sit and luxuriate in a bath knowing that it's using way more water than a shower? I found I couldn't.

So, again, as you collect and boil down sap enjoy and appreciate the beauty of water. Water!
Happy boiling!
Mary

Slowly, Ever So Slowly....

2011-03-02T08:04:00.000-05:00

Big maple that is next to our pool. Along with bird feeders.

So March 1st is the first day of any real sap here. Very typical. March 1st is usually when I begin. We got about a gallon of sap yesterday. Then I proceeded to leave it inside all night! So I presume that sap is now no good. Suppose to keep sap cool until it's boiled, not spending the night next to a wood stove. Oh well. Hope to get more today. Suppose to have snow showers but be a bit above freezing. Temperature then drops to below 20 for tomorrow and below 30 for Friday. So after today I'm not expecting any sap again until Saturday when the temps are suppose to rise again into the upper 30's. But who knows. I never get this right.

Something I did notice yesterday though was that the smaller trees had sap and the larger ones didn't. Don't know if that's a coincidence but it's an observation all the same. Just noting.

That's all for now.
Stay warm!
Mary

Sap Stopped - Too Cold!

2011-02-27T17:37:00.005-05:00

As you can see the sap is literally frozen as it leaves the tap! Some pails had a little frozen sap in them but most were empty. Such is the maple syrup making life.

Today was an absolutely beautiful day. It's not often that it is sunny when it snows. Today was an exception...as the snow fell lightly it actually looked like the sky was snowing glitter. The light reflecting off the snow was just wonderful. Birds are making a lot of noise lately. Surely an early spring sign.
Can you see the chickadee in the evergreen?

We're suppose to get a wintery mix so I doubt we'll have much sap early this week. But I sure hope we get enough this week to be boiling next weekend. Even if it's only a little bit.

Let's keep our fingers crossed that this is the first week of maple sap collecting!
Mary

Pails Are Up and Sap is Flowing - Feb. 24th

2011-02-26T16:29:00.009-05:00

In front of the Garden Shed...Hopefully soon to be Chicken Coop

I swear I can't figure this weather/sap flow thing out. This is my 9th year tapping trees and making maple syrup and I'm still surprised when sap is flowing when I don't think it will be. It was like 20F today when we were tapping and I never expected to see sap flowing. But as soon as I was done drilling each hole sap was flowing out! Go figure. Lisa, a fellow syrup maker said her maple sap started flowing Thursday. So for this 2011 season maple sap started flowing February 24th.

A few pics just because:

Tree shavings from drilling

A tap we use properly inserted into the tree and with pail hanging

Finishing Tapping

Have a great season and keep us posted on how your season is going!
Mary

How to Tap a Maple Tree

2011-02-21T07:28:00.014-05:00

Notice downward positioning of the spile?
7/16" drill bit and 2 spiles. Thingy in middle is for attaching the lid to the pail. I have lost those in the past and just fashioned one out of a piece of metal clothes hanger. The spile on the right works good for milk jugs. I use spiles like the one on the left. Notice how I have the hook facing the WRONG direction under that left hand spile!!!?? It really needs to be facing the other way so once the spile is in the tree you can hang the pail from the hook.
Manual Drill
Close up of the lid being attached to the spile. NOTE: You need to do this outside AFTER you put the spile into the drilled hole.

I use metal pails to collect sap but you can use just about anything that will hold a liquid! I've used gallon milk jugs and plastic pails in the past. But I like the look of the metal pails so that's what I use now. They hold more than the plastic milk jugs too. Whatever you use just be sure it's clean. I've got some older posts that takes you through the washing process. Just use the search tool over there on the right to find them.

Putting together a spile - This bottom picture shows me putting together a spile, that's the thing that goes into the tree and allows the sap to drip through and into your pail. You really need to do this outside. Follow the steps below and you'll see why.

Assuming you have properly identified sugar maple trees and you have washed your equipment you are ready to tap some trees!
**Rule number one - wear more warm clothes than you think you need as it's always colder than you think!

1) I put all my clean collecting pails, spiles, lids, drill with 7/16" drill bit, hammer into a large Rubbermaid container and take them all outside. Some years I've had to put this onto a toboggan, other years I just carry the container. This year I will need the toboggan and snowshoes as we have a nice amount of snow still out there :)
**I use a manual drill and believe me it's not easy! In the past I've tapped about 11-12 trees. This year I'm tapping 16. So pressing that big red knob into my gut while I crank that sucker just isn't easy! But it does work and it works well.

2) Once out at the tree you need to determine where to drill your tap hole. I've read all sorts of pros and cons on tapping on the south side, tapping over a root. To be honest I have not seen a difference where I tap yet I continue to tap on the south side over a root! Go figure. I tap around waist height. Funny thing is that every year this "waist height" can vary. By time the season is over and the snow has melted "waist height" may actually be quite a bit higher!
*****IMPORTANT..... What is important is that you don't tap the same height each year. Vary the height of your tap holes and away from previous year's holes. You don't want to girdle a tree as that will cause harm if not death to a tree. So I do look closely for the previous year's drill holes and I avoid that height and area.

3) Using your drill and 7/16" drill bit...drill baby drill! Gently! I usually go in about an inch or so and do it at a upward angle so the sap drips out easily. You don't need to drill to China here. Once the hole is drilled I tend to use the long skinny wire that is used to attach the lid to gently clean out the wood dust from the newly drilled hole. I don't know if this is necessary but I do it. Habit I guess. Then put the hook onto the spile being sure the hook is facing out/away from the tree so it can hold the pail. Don't ask why I make note of this! Then gently use your hammer to tap the spile with hook on it into the tree. Any sap dripping out the hole? It's always exciting if it is!

4) Hang the pail onto the hook. And listen for that sweet sound..."ping". If the sap is flowing you'll hear it. If it's not flowing yet, you won't.

5) Attach the lid to the pail. To do this you put that long skinny metal rod through the little hole on the lid until you get to the opening. Then run the metal rod through the spile holes like the photo up above shows, and continue through the other side. You want lids on your pails to keep rain water out as well as little critters.

6) Voila! Your tree is tapped. Now wait for the sap to flow.

Here are some older clips from older blog posts but they have some good pics and video clips of tapping trees. Enjoy!

http://dunnmaple.blogspot.com/2008/03/preparing-to-tap-trees.html - Equipment prep - collecting and washing.

Here are a few video clips of us tapping maple trees.http://dunnmaple.blogspot.com/2008/03/tapping-sugar-maple-trees_02.html

Enjoy this fun process as it only happens once a year!
Happy Tree Tapping!
Mary

Maple Tree Review 101

2011-02-20T18:44:00.010-05:00

Sugar Maple leaf...notice the "U" shape between each leaf margin - sure sign of a Sugar Maple!

Do you find that the coming of spring brings on an urge to tap a Sugar Maple Tree (Acer saccharum) or two? I realize that it's been a while since I've posted anything about the science behind sugar maple syrup making. Note that I say "sugar maple" syrup making. You can make syrup from other maples and I've even heard of making it from Beech trees. But I have never tapped any type of tree other than Sugar Maples. The reasons being that I have Sugar Maples on my property and the other being that Sugar Maples have the most sugar in their sap so require the least amount of boiling to reduce the sap to syrup. The more time it takes to reduce sap to syrup not only costs you in time but also in fuel money. Neither of which I choose to spend carelessly.

So with that said, let's explore that lovely Acer saccharum! It would help first to properly identify a Sugar Maple. I find doing this in summer is much easier than in the dead of winter. Why do they call it the "dead of winter" anyway?! Things aren't dead! Anyway, the leaf shape is a good identification trait. The shape of the tree is another good identifying mark. Notice the lovely summer and winter shape of these trees:

Another identifying marker is the bark. This I struggle with but some of you may be good at this! If so here's a picture of that:

Let's see if I can explain what is happening inside a maple tree to cause the sap to flow. (Before I begin I'd like to proudly say that the majority of the information in this paragraph comes from no other than our very own University of Maine!) Sometime during the end of the summer/early autumn maple trees, which tend to grow in cooler northern climates, basically stop growing. They begin to store excess starch in their cells. I believe these cells are called "ray cells". This starch stays in these ray cells during the winter while it's cold outside and until the temperatures begin to rise above 40 degrees F. When the temperatures begin to rise the starches are converted to sugars. Now that's only part of the story. The sugar than passes into the sap. What causes this sugary sap to begin to flow? Well, as the temps rise, pressure is created inside the tree, and this causes the sweet sap to flow. As the temperatures continue to rise, usually late March/early April the sugars are turned back into starch and that's the end of the sugary flow for the year. I hope I understand all this correctly. If you can explain this better or add to it, please do! I'm always trying to wrap my head around this! What seems, at first glance, as simple science is really not so simple!

Once you have identified your tree(s) you are ready to determine if it's large enough to tap. Tapping trees too small can cause harm to the tree. To determine if a maple tree is large enough go stand next to it. At a height of about 4 and 1/2 feet above the ground the tree needs to have at least a circumference of 31". That (not diameter) means the distance around the tree, like if you were hugging it. If the circumference is between 31-63" (that would be 10-20" diameter) you can safely put 1 tap into it. Trees with a circumference of 64-79" (that would be a diameter of 20-25") can safely have 2 taps. Trees with a circumference of over 79"(that's 25" in diameter) can have 3 taps. But UMO says no more than 3 taps per tree. To be honest I've never done more than 1 tap per tree. But I do have two very large old maples way out back that this year I may put 2 taps in.

Coming soon: How to tap a tree.
Happy 2011 Sugaring! Let's hope this is a great syrup making year!
Mary

Containers Washed, Steralized, and First Tree Tapped

2011-02-20T13:38:00.008-05:00

1 Lone Tree Tapped

It's a chilly 18 degrees F, way too cold for sap to flow. But the warm feel in the air, the active birds, a higher sun, a few dripping icicles,longer days, and the calendar tell us that the time is near. So that means it's time to get ready. Time to gather all your supplies and get them all in one spot and cleaned.

To prepare I gathered all my supplies and that includes some ordinary household bleach.

Remember this mantra when cleaning your sap pails and collection buckets..."Wash, Bleach, Rinse, Rinse, Rinse." BUT not plastic. For your plastic containers remember to add..."BP" In other words...."Wash, Bleach, Rinse, Rinse, Rinse BP (But Plastic). For plastic, just wash with soapy hot water and rinse well. Fill a sink or tub with hot soapy water and wash thoroughly, then swirl in a bleach/water solution. I forget what the literature says but I do a 1/2 filled sink and a pour/glub of bleach. Swirl all materials in the bleach water after thoroughly washed. TIP: If when you put your supplies away at the end of the season you cover them good this step will be much easier. Some supplies I keep in plastic garbage bags. Some I keep in big Rubbermaid type plastic bins with lids.

Once washed and sterilized and rinsed they can just sit out and dry.

Now hang one pail and wait for the clear, tasteless, maple sap to flow. I'm predicting here in central Maine it will be the end of February, maybe early March.

Here's a photo of how to attach the spile to the pail.

I decided this year to determine how large my trees really are. In the past I have always only put one tap on each tree. But I'm thinking/wondering if a few of the large ones can handle a second tap. So on went the snowshoes and with tape measure in hand I set out to do some measuring. Wow was I surprised! The two large trees out back have a circumference of least 120". That's enough for 3 taps! The sugar bush trees are about 60" so I'm glad I've only been putting one tap on each of them. I think I just may go buy two more pails and put two taps on the big trees out back. Lesson learned...measure your trees because you may be really surprised at their size!

Happy Tapping!
Mary

The 2011 Season is About to Begin!

2011-02-19T11:09:00.003-05:00

Time to gather the supplies and get them ready for tapping next week. We've had warmer weather the past few days but a cold spell is arriving as I type. Wind has picked up and temps have dropped back down below freezing. Early in the week I'll tap one tree. When it flows I'll tap the rest. Let the annual sap flow begin!

The 2010 Season is Over

2010-03-16T18:39:00.004-04:00

A Seasonal Line Up of Maple Syrup Jars...early season on left and late season on right

Temps soared into the low 60's today and I knew the season would be over and it is. Checked the pails and they were all empty. This is fine with me as the syrup I boiled up last night was very dark and I also ran out of propane with last nights boil. So I wasn't going to boil anymore anyway.

Well, hope you had a productive 2010 maple season. Remember to wash your supplies well and cover well before you put them away until next season. Until then may the wind be at your back and may the sun shine warm upon your face and the rain fall softly on your fields....

Mary

Sap Dumping

2010-03-15T17:21:00.004-04:00

Preparing to dump the sap

Dumping sap!? Who in their right mind would do that? Well... me! This is my is my 8th year collecting sap and boiling it down to make maple syrup. It's also the first year I've dared to dump sap. Every year I feel I MUST boil every single drop of sap or else it would be wasteful. But this year, due to the many trips to Boston, I've been forced to dump sap rather than collect it. I have to say it's been fairly liberating! I know that sounds very counter intuitive for a sap collector but oddly it's true.

Last week when I came back from Boston I had more than enough sap from the weekend that my son gathered up for me to boil. Then Monday there was another day's supply. I knew I'd be up all night boiling and I was just so tired. So I took a deep breath and dumped it. Ouch! I felt wasteful at first but then relieved that I didn't need to stay up another 3 hours to boil. Today I did the same thing again. And it felt rather freeing. The notion that I can collect sap on days that I want to and boil sap on days that I can is a rather new idea. Fancy that! Fitting maple syrup making into my schedule rather than the other way around. Now I'm not saying I'll just dump sap rather than collect it on any old day. But to do so when feeling overwhelmed is rather liberating. I don't know if it's politically correct but I highly recommend it!

Another problem that supports this idea is the fact that lately the days have been pretty warm (50's at times) and there is no snow to mound around the container that I use to store sap. So the ability to store it for a week before boiling it just isn't going to work. I worry about storing it for a day.

Hope you don't have to dump your sap to often and I hope your sap and syrup season is still going well. Please check in and let us know how your season is going. I'd love to hear from you.
Mary

Boiling Sap and Then Boiling More Sap

2010-03-12T18:54:00.003-05:00

Finished Syrup from Grade A Light Amber on the left,
Grade A Medium Amber in Middle, and Downright Dark on the right!

Wow, what perfect maple syrup making weather we've had all week! The past 3 days has produced quite a bit of sap to collect. I've put up a gallon and should get at least 2 more quarts today. The finished syrup is getting a bit thicker, darker, and with a stronger maple flavor. It is classifying out to be a Medium Amber syrup.

Not much really to say except that I've filled the propane tanks twice and am feeling I may only boil for another week.

Mid Season Boiling Update

2010-03-10T17:21:00.007-05:00

It reached 50 degrees F today and it was a glorious spring day. Actually it's been glorious spring weather for almost a week now. I've read on Facebook that some folks have seen robins and crocuses but I haven't. I do see a few green shoots starting to pop up but no flowers yet. Driving home from Boston earlier this week we saw several Red Tail Hawks soaring over the highway and Boston has buds on some of the trees. Grounds where tulips will come up in the garden have been raked and look ready for whenever the tulips decide to sprout and bloom. I particularly love driving to work and home from work in daylight.

I boiled the weekend's sap last night. About 25 gallons. I had to dump yesterday's sap because it was all cloudy looking and some was yellowish brown. Yuck! But today's looks fine and I'm boiling about 15 gallons now. I lost about 2 weeks of the season this year due to spending time in Boston. But looks like we'll still get enough syrup for our family at least.

The smell in my kitchen right now is absolutely magnificent! I've got a good gallon of syrup from last night's boil finishing on the stove. It's definitely darker than 2 weeks ago when I last finished a gallon of syrup. Now we are onto cooking syrup. Darker, thicker, stronger taste and smell is what I use for cooking. The initital gallon will be special to serve on yogurt, cereal, over pancakes, etc.

There is almost no snow to speak of and it's not only the first time I tapped before March 1st but it's also the first season I've worn garden mud shoes to collect sap. Wild! I hate to bring up climate change but how can I not? While 1 season does not provide enough evidence for anything it certainly adds to ongoing evidence that has been collected for years. This winter the annual ice derby couldn't even be held due to lack of lake ice. Let's hope our maple trees survive whatever our climate has in store for them over the next 50 years. I would miss them if they were to go.

I've been playing with the boiling process a little bit this year too. Instead of only partially filling the evaporator and keeping a "dripping pot" of sap over it I've been filling the evaporator and letting it go. When it gets low I fill it again. Seems to be working just fine. I have also flipped my boiling schedule a bit. Boiling during the week nights since I'm in Boston on weekends lately. The only reason that is working so well is due to the fact that we have an evaporator. Thanks Liz!!! It has changed our whole operation. To be honest I don't know if I would have continued with maple syrup production without it. And the extra 5 trees that we've tapped has been fine. I'm glad we did it.

Well, off to watch over the boiling and finishing. Hope you continue to have a sweet maple season!

Mary

Season is in Full Swing

2010-03-07T23:17:00.005-05:00

Boiling Sap during the 08-09 maple season...pics from this season coming soon!

It's been two weeks since I've posted. I apologize. I've been traveling back and forth between Boston helping my daughter relocate. Last time I wrote I had harvested almost 20 gallons of early season sap. Then the need to go to Boston arose and I never got to boil up that luscious sap. I had to dump it. Actually my son dumped it for me. Then came this past week when the weather was not what you might call great maple sap flowing weather. So we didn't miss out on much. But this weekend the weather has been perfect maple sap flowing weather. Kyle has harvested almost 40 gallons of sap while we've been away. He said the pails have been overflowing! So when we get back Monday we'll be boiling like crazy. We'll have to boil every night to try to get on top of it.

This post is short and sweet. Hope you are enjoying your maple season. More to come once we get my daughter settled.

Finishing Syrup - 1st batch of the 2010 year

2010-02-21T19:28:00.017-05:00

First Run Finished Syrup and Syrup Grader

Syrup Grader

Amazing sap run this year so far! The weather has been unseasonably warm and the sap has been flowing like wild! It's been a joy to tap and collect sap this year. I've got 3 quarts finished and they look and taste lovely. So light. My favorite syrup. I really don't think you can buy such light syrup.

Every year I buy a small syrup making toy. This year I bought a syrup grader. Below is a picture. When you buy this it comes with an empty bottle that the syrup maker fills with the day's syrup. The other bottles of syrup examples are used to compare your syrup to and figure out what grade syrup you have. Once the empty bottle is filled it is put into this contraption between the bottles that are lighter and darker in color. The first bottle below is filled with syrup from my first run. Lighter than Grade Amber A! And so yummy!

Closer look at the syrup grader

My first run is on the left - lighter than Grade A Amber - the lightest available on the market!

I tried another method for putting up my finished syrup before using the above grader. I use to keep the week's syrup in the refrigerator and pour it all into a big post and boil it and can it using the traditional home canning method used for putting up summer garden vegetables. That method was very time and energy intensive. It also mixed grades of syrup. What I did this weekend was bring the almost finished sap inside and filter it. (I use to filter it after it was completely finished syrup) Then I finished simmering the sap on the stove until it was finished syrup. When the bubbles looked just right I used the hydrometer to check its density. (I'll get a picture of this up next time I do it. I'll also explain this process in more detail.) If the density was right and the temperature was 180F then I bottled it into the waiting dishwasher clean canning jars. It worked like a charm! One thing I like about this method is not having to use so much gas to boil jars etc. But even more is the fact that it allows me to keep each run separate.

Filtering the syrup before finishing it

Finishing the syrup off and measuring temperature using a candy thermometer

Tomorrow school starts again so postings will probably only be on the weekends. I'll continue to collect sap daily but probably won't boil again until the weekend.

Happy sap collecting and boiling!

First Boiling Day

2010-02-20T08:57:00.010-05:00

My set up years ago when I was just beginning.....this took forever!

My set up now....

Today is the day I pull out the evaporator. Clean it good with soap and hot water and rinse, rinse, rinse. I don't bother with bleach because I worry I wouldn't be able to get it all out. The evaporator is large, bulky, heavy, and hard to maneuver. Also, I figure it gets so hot from all the boiling I can't imagine I need to worry about microbes.

I'm not going to boil in the garage this year. It's warm enough and we now have winter access to our pool area so I'm going to set up right outside where we can all see the whole thing in full view. Makes me feel better about this. I don't like leaving the boiling unsupervised even for a few moments! I've got 25 gallons of sap. 15 from earlier in the week and 10 from yesterday. I was at Belfast yesterday and it was delightfully warm! I thought I'd come home to overflowing pails. Nope. It felt a bit cooler here so I guess it just wasn't warm enough for the large sap flow like I got the previous days. Hopefully I'll get another 10-15 gallons of sap today and another tomorrow. 40 gallons of sap boils down to 1 gallon of syrup! This is such a time and energy intensive process. It would be nice to end the weekend with a gallon of syrup. No wonder pure maple syrup is so darn expensive!

I also bought 5 more pails that I'm going to wash and hang today. Very exciting! I also bought a Maine Maple Syrup cookbook. Great recipes and tips on substituting maple syrup for sugar in cooking and baking. I'll post some later on in the season. Also, if you're looking for a good recipe go over to Sweet Cheeks in the Kitchen blog. Brianne has a wonderful recipe for Maple Syrup Pancake Muffins. She has them listed under her Breakfast recipes.

A few hours later...... What a beautiful day today!

Tapped 5 more trees. That puts me up to 16. The most I've tapped but with this evaporator I'm not worried about being overwhelmed. The first year I tapped 5 trees using milk jugs and a turkey fryer. Worked just fine. Kept me busy and we got a gallon or so of syrup. The next few years I tapped 13 trees and used 2 turkey fryers. Then 2 trees died so I was down to 11 trees. So now I'm up to 16. 4 are on the outskirts of the yard and 1 is next to our pool.

Something cool is happening to the tree near the pool. It's dripping sap! I was standing under the tree putting the spile and pail on and I was getting wet. When I looked up I could see drops coming down all around me! Must mean there are cuts which probably isn't great but it has been pretty neat to watch a tree "raining" sap. I'm trying to post a video clip here showing it. It's not a YouTube award clip that is for sure, but once this site lets me post it, if you look closely you'll see one area of drips and a few chickadees.

Almost all 25 gallons of sap are boiled down and ready to be finished off tonight. I wonder how many I'll collect today. My guess is...a lot!

Yup, just came in with 17 gallons. Newly tapped trees are doing just fine. Outside boiling resumes!

Happy Spring!

1st day of Collecting Sap

2010-02-18T07:13:00.013-05:00

Sap collected from a few trees. Now to store till weekend when I'll do my first boiling

Went out to Bacon Maple Farm this morning to buy some more hooks to hang 2 more pails. I actually bought a few extra just to have on hand. Hung the pails up and the sap just came pouring out! Well, not really pouring. But a fast drip, drip, drip! So I figured I might as well collect sap and see what I've got; 15 gallons of sap in one day. Not bad! Now to get some propane to get this stuff boiling!

I have two friends tapping for the first time this year. Deborah and Lisa. Lisa has in 16 taps and 15 gallons of sap already collected! Holy Toledo, is she in for some full swing maple fun! She is starting her boiling today. It'll be interesting to see how her boiling today goes. Maybe she'll share her experience with us...hint, hint Lisa! :) Deborah tapped yesterday and I look forward to hearing her update.

It's still warm out; still no snow out except for what is left on the ground from the last snow we had a month ago. Ugh! It's Maine and it's February. It's suppose to be snowing!

Tomorrow I head to the coast with Liz, a knitting friend of mine, to visit our friend, Helen, who owns the most wonderful yarn store in Maine (Heavenly Socks Yarns in Belfast, Maine http://heavenlysocksyarns.com/). I plan on stopping at a place on the way which is way out in the country to buy more pails etc. for the few extra trees I'm going to tap this year. With the wonderful evaporator that my friend Liz gave me I think I can handle more sap.

Sap Collecting: Very important to collect your sap daily and either boil it right away or store it very cold until you can get to it! Unless of course it's snowing or below 0 F then it's ok to leave in pail on tree. But sap left in pails on trees during a warmish and/or sunny day can go sour. And we don't want that. If the sap is stored in a closed container and placed in a cold north facing spot it can usually last a few days. I've been able to get mine to last a week if I pile snow up around the containers and put them on the north side of the barn, see photo below.

If you want to see the whole process, step by step from tapping trees, to boiling, to canning, you can look over there on the left and you'll find the 2008 archives of this blog. That's where all the photos, video clips and detailed descriptions are found. And remember to start at the bottom and work your way up.

I'd also like to say that I'm going to try a different approach to putting up the finished syrup this year. I'm going to wash the jars in my dishwasher and when dry put their lids on. Then when I'm finishing the syrup on the kitchen stove and I've got finished syrup and it's 180F I'm going to fill the jars, seal them with new lids, and lay them on their side. And voila, they'll be done. Shelly from Bacon Maple Farm in Sidney says that's how it's done. No need to go through all that time and energy of the traditional canning process like we do for garden vegetables. See, we learn something new every year! I can't wait to give it a try. But, if you want to follow the canning process you know where to turn...yup, year 2008 over there on the left.

Happy collecting and boiling! Take the time to safely smell the steam rising from the boiling, especially the final boiling when you almost have syrup...it's heaven. (It's also extremely HOT...hence the word "safely".)
Science note about steam for geeks like you and me:) - If you think about that for a minute it makes sense. Boiling water is very hot. My daughter is suffering from a 2nd degree burn due to contact with boiling water:( Those little water molecules are moving and bouncing off each other very fast. Ohhh so much energy! But to get them to break free of each other and leave the liquid state and rise up as a gas they are moving even faster and with more energy! So even hotter. Now granted the "steam" we see is really liquid droplets that reform as the gas steam hits the cooler surrounding air. As the water molecules escape the boiling water and rise as gas into the air they hit that cooler surrounding air which cools them down enough to become liquid again. Enough said, you get the picture...steam is HOT!

How about we make this whole thing interactive?

2010-02-17T09:07:00.007-05:00

Spiles, 7/16 inch diameter drill bit, lid wire....how fun!

Howdy tappers!

I have an idea. I've gotten a few emails and postings on my Facebook page from people sharing their experiences so far this year as well as their questions/comments.

I was wondering if I could ask you all a favor??

I'd like to know who all is following this blog. Can you sign in(follow) and share via comments links what your experiences are? If that's too much work, is it OK for me to post your info and photos for you? That way we can all talk to each other and learn from each other. I am in no way an expert and think we may enjoy sharing these new learning experiences this way.

Again, happy tapping!
Mary

PS - If you want to follow the step by step guide to this process, hop down to my 2008 season. There I documented the whole process, step by step using many photos and a few video clips too. I will add some of those old clips throughout this year to help you along. :)

Here is a website (tapmytrees.com) that also shows the process very nicely. Here's the page with information on tapping trees: http://tapmytrees.com/taptree.html

Before you begin anything you need to be sure your collecting equipment is CLEAN! The book I go by, Maple Syrup Producers Manual, says to wash in soapy hot water, soak in bleach solution (1 cup bleach/1 gallon water) for 15 minutes (oops I screwed this up!) and then rinse, rinse again, and rinse again. 3 rinses with clean water. This process is for metal equipment such as pails, spires, lids, drill bit. For plastic collection pails just skip the bleach step.

With that said, here's a video clip of Ger tapping a tree (notice his comical interpretation of "tapping". This is an old clip from 2008. This year when I tapped I didn't have snowshoes or a winter coat on! I was in boots and a hoodie.

Day 2 and Phenology

2010-02-17T06:51:00.008-05:00

Another Grandma Moses picture

It's cloudy and a bit below 30F outside. Did I say it looks and feels like March and that I've never gotten sap this early before? It kind of caught me by surprise. Not really sure why as all the signs were there that it was time to tap. Cold nights (below 30F), warmer days (above 30F) and puddles of water midday where there were spots of ice the night before. But something weird happened yesterday. I heard new bird calls that I usually begin to hear at the end of tapping season. That made me think about something called Phenology.

Phenology is when you notice and record seasonal life cycles such as the leafing and flowering of plants (maple trees!), when insects are emerging, and the migration of birds. The thing is that many of these seasonal events are sensitive to little changes in the climate. A cool thing is that they are very simple to observe and record.

Us hardy tappers are prime candidates for citizen science. Citizen science is when regular joe's like you and me observe something in nature and record and report what we see. Very simple and really quite fun. I'm assuming that if you're a tapper you enjoy the outdoors. Or maybe you just have a sweet tooth and like to tinker with boiling sap. But I'll stick to my "you like the outdoors" thought. With that said being outdoors this time of year we "see" things that other indoor souls miss. So why not notice a little deeper and send our noticings to some group that can use it? The above website lets us sign up for a plant to monitor. So why not monitor our favorite, Acer saccharum...aka sugar maple. (notice how the first letter of the sugar maple's scientific name is capitalized and the first letter of the second word isn't:)

If you'd like to give this observing thing a go here is the link for the Acer saccharum: http://www.usanpn.org/?q=Acer_saccharum Just click on the "Data sheet" button and download the sheet. Then save it and print it. Keep it with you when you go outside and fill it in as the season progresses. Keep a little pencil with you too. You could break a pencil in half so it fits in your pocket. You could even make a little booklet from corrigated cardboard. Cut 2 pieces that fit in your coat pocket and keep your data sheet inside that using a paper clip or something. Then you have something sturdy to write on. The website even has a cool training video clip to watch first. It's available here: http://www.usanpn.org/?q=node/2175
Go here to sign up: http://www.usanpn.org/?q=user

Enjoy and please post when you notice leaf bud and what is happening to your maple tapping when you notice leaf bud!

The Sap is Flowing and the 2010 Maple Season has Begun!

2010-02-16T21:37:00.003-05:00

Drip, Drip, Drip...Sap Collecting in a Sap Pail

Today the sap was flowing! Not sure if it began today or yesterday but the new season has begun. This is the earliest we've had sap flowing here but it's been warm the past few days. It looks and feels like March. I even heard some new bird songs today. Wow, that's early!

I'm going to add a few other maple trees to our collection. There are a few large maples on the edge of our yard that I'm going to tap as well as the one near our pool. That adds 3 more to our collection. Maybe next year I'll add another 3 that are on the other edge of our yard. We'll see how it goes. Cross your fingers that this is a good season.

If you are starting out and need help feel free to post a comment/question. I'll get back to you ASAP.

One question someone asked me was what to do with a gallon or two of sap. If you find yourself in this position you can save the sap in the refrigerator and boil it down when you get more. Sap can last several days in the refrigerator. Another option but one I don't recommend is to boil it right on your kitchen stove. I don't think this is a good idea due to the amount of condensation it produces. This can cause a major water issue in your kitchen. I've even heard of wall paper coming down due to this. But for a little bit of sap you could try it.

Happy tapping!

Starting Early This Year

2010-02-14T09:30:00.004-05:00

Beginning of Maple Syrup Season - Washing and sterilizing sap collection buckets

Friday I saw an eagle with a twig in its talons. 2 chickadees at the feeder look fatter. It got up to 42F yesterday and ice in the driveway was melting. I think I'm going to go with the February 14th official maple season start date and go ahead and get all my equipment out and ready. That means washing and sterilizing collection containers and spires and tapping one tree. I've never started this early but it feels like time. After you do this a few years you begin to get that, it's time to tap, feeling in your bones. It really is one of the most wonderful feelings! Because it means spring, early spring, is around the corner and old man winter is loosening up his grasp. To be honest I think it's been kind of a crappy winter. Not much snow.

I will keep you posted here when the sap starts to flow.

One note, in my opinion the beginning sap is the best. It's the lightest and most delicate in flavor. And it is not what you buy in the store. So to miss it is a bummer. Thus the get ready just in case mentality.

Happy Valentine's Day which to us is really Happy Maple Syrup Season!

Welcome to the 2010 Maple Syrup Season in Maine!

2010-02-07T12:50:00.003-05:00

While it is still early for maple sap flow here in central Maine you can feel the shift of weather in the air. Intense cold with intermittent sun filled mid day warmings. Then if you look at your calendar you'll see that February 14th is only a week away. February 14th is the official first day of the maple syrup season in Maine. While I've never seen sap flow as early as February 14th it's a date that gets maple syrup makers excited and preparing for the upcoming season.

Come follow this blog for yet another maple syrup season. Or if you are lucky enough to have a maple sugar tree or two read through the past two seasons that are recorded here to learn how to prepare for your own maple syrup production. It's a lot of fun and a great way to celebrate the beginning of the upcoming spring season.

Happy sugaring!
Mary

Last Day of the 2009 Season

2009-03-28T11:25:00.010-04:00

Final day of maple syrup making for the 2009 season so....
welcome to another and final day of sap boiling. We're getting to the end of the season and it's been a great season! We are suppose to get a large rainstorm tomorrow and I can tell that the syrup will be darker today. You get darker and stronger flavored syrup towards the end of the season. Some folks prefer that but I don't. I got 2 1/2 gallons of lovely light syrup this year. Great year!

I'm going to try something new this year. Instead of just letting the last few days of sap go to waste I'm going to try using the sap just as it is straight from the tree for cooking in soup, coffee etc. Not sure if it'll impart a subtle maple sweetness or not but could be interesting. I read that you boil the sap for 1 minute to kill any microorganisms. Easy enough.

For a complete step by step guide to making maple syrup read through this blog. It takes you through the whole process. As I said in the first post of this year, you need to begin at the end of this blog (which is really the beginning).

I hope this inspires you to go out this summer and find maple trees on your land and begin to gather your milk jugs or whatever so that you can make your own maple syrup next year! It's a fantastic way to end a long winter and bring in the spring season.

Here are some pics of what a sugar maple leaf looks like. Notice the "U" shape between the lobes. That is the distinctive characteristic to help determine if the tree/leaf you are looking at is a "sugar" maple vs another type of maple.

Happy Spring! And if you're not a maple syrup producer be sure to support your maple syrup producers by buying some real maple syrup today!

PS - It's 5 in the evening and I was right; this is the last day of syrup production. No sap in any buckets. Season's over. Bitter sweet.

2009-03-21T18:47:00.006-04:00

It's been a great maple sap collection week. Just spent the day boiling @30 gallons of sap in 45 degree F weather. I moved the operation outdoors and that was a very nice change from boiling sap all day at the edge of the garage. I think I even saw a Phoebe! Spring is in the air. Here's a pic of the operation outdoors. Including today's syrup I've got about 1 and 1/2 gallons of syrup. I shared some with a very close friend as we celebrated her very special holiday, NoRooz (lots of different spellings). It's the Persian New Year which happens to fall on the first day of spring, or Vernal Equinox (Vernal = Spring and Equinox = Equal...equal # day and night hours), which was yesterday. Nothing like syrup from the first flow of the year! So light and delicious. Hopefully we'll be boiling again tomorrow.

Well it's tomorrow and we're boiling again. Got almost 1 gallon per tree so I fired up the evaporator again. Had a little issue yesterday that I forgot to mention. Sap from the beginning of the week went bad. It had an off color when I went to boil it, it wasn't clear but a tiny bit milky. So I pitched it. I think the storage area wasn't cold enough. So today I moved my storage containers to the north side of the pool shed and shoveled snow up around them. That should keep the sap cooler this week. I've read that sap needs to be treated like milk; kept cold or it can spoil just like milk can. So we'll see how this goes. Here's a photo of the new spot.

2009-03-15T11:38:00.003-04:00

It's a gorgeous early spring day in Maine! It's 43 degrees F (6 degrees C) outside and our first week's batch of maple sap is boiling away. I think I can safely assume that come 3:00 this afternoon I'll have a few more gallons of sap to add. (Well,it's 7 at night and I had another 10 gallons come today. So we are still boiling.) This is late in the year to be boiling a first batch of sap compared to previous years. I'm usually on my 2nd or even 3rd batch by now. But we had some pretty cold weather early on in March. My guess is this will be a short year. Now to go skim the boiling sap.

1 year later and time to sanatize the pails and hang them up

2009-03-01T09:13:00.005-05:00

Happy Early Spring in Maine!

Yes, believe it or not it is spring in Maine. And spring in Maine means maple syrup! We've had a day of temps above 30 degrees F! Whoo whoo! Actually I think we may have had 2 days above. The ice patches on the streets and sidwalks are actually liquid during early afternoon and Father Winter is loosing his grasp. Now the first thing you have to accept when we say this is we are not talking tulips and daffodils. We are talking longer days, dripping icicles (fyi- icicles mean heat loss so even though they are so pretty if you have them you need to find the heat loss and insulate), temps that rise above freezing, and maybe the return of a song from a long departed migratory bird.

A few years ago we had a very cold winter. Not so unusual really. Temps above 20 felt down right balmy. On one of these very balmy 30+ temp days that "spring" my husband, college aged son, and I went to see Lewis Black. Lewis Black is a crass (not for young audiences) very funny political comedian. The day in Portland Maine was rather remarkable as the sun was shinning and the sky was blue. People were out and about, walking downtown in tee shirts and baseball caps. Spring was in the air and we Mainers were rejoicing in the anticipation of warmer days. Anyway, Lewis Black, up from NYC, came out on stage in his signature black leather jacket. His opening line was, "How cold does it have to be up here for you people to put on a coat!?" The audience went wild.

Now that we can feel the seasonal shift with days beginning to have temps above freezing and nights remaining below freezing it's time to get those buckets (or tubes) out and start the whole process of collecting sap. Now the funny thing about using a blog such as this as a guide to this absolutely fun process is that the oldest (first steps) are at the end of this blog. So if you want to follow the steps here you need to go to the end (which is really the beginning) and work your way backwards. Kind of like if you're reading time in the Grand Canyon. Start at the bottom where the oldest is and work your way to the top to the newest or most recent information. Also like your kid's backpack! Oldest at the bottom, newest at the top.

If you try this and need any quidance or just want to share your progress drop me a line. I'd love to post your experience and photos here.

Have a great 2009 maple season; let's hope it's a good one.
Mary

Canning Day

2008-04-06T19:09:00.012-04:00

If you are visiting the 2008 season to see how this process is done then scroll all the way down and begin at the very bottom of this page. That's the beginning and there are lots of pictures, video clips, and written directions explaining this whole tapping, boiling, maple syrup making process. This Canning Day post is the end of the 2008 season.

Now that we are done collecting sap and making syrup it's time to put the syrup up, preserve it, so it lasts. I'll go over the steps along with the photos. Once canning is done, the last and very important step of maple time is cleaning all equipment and putting it away until next season. That will happen next weekend. So let's do some canning!
The jars below show early season syrup (on left) and moves toward late season syrup (on right). Notice the color change! Not only is the color different, but the flavor is very different. Early season syrup is lighter both in color and flavor. Lighter maple flavor and sweetness. Later syrup is darker in color and has a much deeper maple flavor and is quite a bit sweeter.

Final sap batch finishing off and canning pot getting ready to use.

These jars are divided into two batches. Lighter syrup in jars on the left will be heated to 180 degrees F in one large pot. Darker syrup from jars on right will also be heated to 180 degrees F but in another pot. This is not fool proof for keeping quality syrup separate. Next year I'm going to purchase a grader. More on that later.

Jars need to be washed in hot soapy water before they are sterilized.

This wide mouth funnel is a must! Very helpful for pouring syrup into canning jars. Lids in box on right. Need to use brand new, clean, lids each time you can.

Thermometers for keeping track of syrup temperature...want it at 180 degrees F. Supposedly if the syrup is canned when it is hotter it may form crystals along the bottom.

Canning has begun! Jars are in the big lobster pot. They will come to a boil and then boil for 15 minutes. That sterilizes them. Pots on the left are full of syrup. Slowly, on low, brought up to 180 degrees F. Tiny pot in the middle has the lids in it. They need to boil for 5 minutes

180 degrees F!

This is a nifty tong, perfect for lifting hot jars out of the hot water bath (large pot of boiling water.

Jars are sterilized, so is funnel. Now time to pour the 180 degree F syrup in the jar.

Another nifty canning tool. A magnet on a long handle. It can lift the lids out of the boiling water without burning your fingers. Putting on lid and then cap. The caps will come off before the jars are stored. They are just used to keep the lids in place while they form their seal.

Now jars lie on their side until you hear the magical "ping" sound which means the lid sealed. The jars are covered and remain on their side until the jars cool off. The jars get covered so the cooling off occurs slowly.

Once the jars are cool the lids will be removed and the jar lids will be labeled with the year and then put in cool, dark storage. This year we got 2 gallons of syrup, 8 of these quart jars.

Tomorrow is MMSA Maine Maple Monday; first one ever! MMSA, Maine Math and Science Alliance, is where I work. We'll have the traditional pancakes and maple syrup and ice cream and maple syrup. YUMMMMYYYY!

Next weekend I'll remove all pails from trees and clean and sterilize all pails and other collection and storage containers before putting them away for the year. I'll post some pics of that since it's such an important part of maple syrup making. Time to go enjoy some maple syrup.

Here's one simple recipe: Maple Butter:

8 TBSP real butter; room temperature
4 TBSP maple syrup
Whip the above ingredients using a mixer until smooth and well mixed. Serve over anything that would taste good with a maple and butter taste. Morning toast, waffles, hot pop-overs, squash..... lots of food would taste good with this.
NOTE: I think 4 TBSP of maple syrup is too sweet. I use 3, so play with the ratio until you get what you like.

Rainy Maple Days and End of Syrup Making

2008-04-05T10:06:00.006-04:00

Rain has come! Ahhhh....it's spring in Maine. Still snow on the ground but yesterday was our first real rainy day. Was very wet heavy snow driving home from the coast yesterday but it turned to all rain. I can assume there is a low sap flow today. Not much of a temperature change from last night to today. End of syrup season is upon us. As a matter of fact this will be the last day of boiling sap. The syrup looks very dark today and I don't like dark syrup. And the gas tanks are empty so that's that. I thought we'd get another week out of this but we won't. Sap in the pails on the tree look a bit funky (cloudy), another sign that the season is ending. Some folks keep going and we certainly could try for another week. Kids tend to like the thick, dark, sweet syrup but I don't have little kids anymore. In the mean time....

We've run into another snag. With such a large surface area of sap that is evaporating the amount of "steam" rising is amazing! There is a lot more boiling on this new evaporator pan than when we boiled using smaller pans. The water has to go somewhere and it is going right up to the ceiling of our garage which is just getting soaked. Not good. So we've moved the operation just outside our garage door and up it goes into the air.

Tomorrow I'll try to post pics of the canning process and that'll be the end of this blog for this season.

Boil, boil toil and trouble?

2008-03-31T15:18:00.005-04:00

Is it really "boil, boil toil..." in MacBeth or is it, "double, double toil??" hmmmm...

Either way..."boil, boil (I like that version) toil and trouble; fire burn, and caldron bubble". That's how I felt this past 2 days!

After Boston I came back to almost 25 gallons of sap! Wowza, now that's a lot of boiling for a tiny operation like mine. So we've been boiling madly. Syrup is getting a deeper brown. That's a sign we are later into the season. That wonderful, light golden color is gone :( But we'll keep on boiling.

Today it's snowing, there's a shocker! :) and not much sap outside. But last week with its cold nights and warm (40s) days the sap ran beautifully. Here's a picture of one of our maple trees, the one we don't tap. Can you see the snow flakes?

Saw a large flock of robins today and a Blue Hearon sitting by the stream. Spring really is around the corner. Believe!

And another sign of spring...tomatoes and basil seedlings on the kitchen windowsill. :) Yummmm tomato plant smell! AND maple syrup boiling smell! YUMMMM.....

I

Boston!

2008-03-25T21:18:00.005-04:00

Welcome to Boston! Taking a break from maple production to be here for the National Science Teacher's Convention. These pictures are from my hotel room which is down by the waterfront.
That is the North End we see in the distance. Enjoy the view!
Erin and I went out to dinner. Sure is nice to go out with my daughter :) xoxoxox
Kyle is collecting sap and storing it until I get back. Thanks Kyle!

Is that the Tobin Bridge

And the tall building in the distance with the pointy top is the Prudential Building.

First Insect of the Year and New Birds!

2008-03-25T07:35:00.008-04:00

First insect of the season! When we see insects in the sap we know we've turned the corner to warmer days :) Ahhhhhhh....another sign of spring
The morning after finding the above insect we heard two new bird calls! Another sign of spring?
Here is a video clip of a large maple tree that is next to our pool. We don't tap this tree.
Listen for the bird calls. There are three. The loudest, 2 note call, is a cardinal, I think. Cardinals, those beautiful red birds, have been winter residents for several years now. We have a pair that live here.
The second trill like sound is not a winter sound.
Then if you listen carefully you can hear a short third call right at the beginning of the clip. So not only do we see a first insect we hear a new bird call. Makes sense; many of our summer birds eat insects! See how things are connected?
Feel free to leave comments if you can identify any of these calls. Chad...you out there???

Figuring Out How to Use the Evaporator

2008-03-24T18:58:00.013-04:00

We used the sap evaporator successfully! We just added a step and we kept a very close eye on the boiling. It sure does boil a lot faster! :) Now we collect sap for several days throughout the week storing it in large containers reserved for sap storage only. Then fire up the evaporator on the weekends.
** Victoria at work was asking me what the big coffee can was for. I guess I forgot to fill you in on this. Once the sap starts boiling I put the coffee can on a shelf (really an old bicycle rack) over the boiling sap. Then I keep pouring the sap into the can. There is a small tube coming out of the bottom of the can (it's a piece of fish aquarium tubing). This way the sap added slowly to the boiling sap. This keeps the sap boiling all the time. I just poked a small hole into the bottom of the can and stuck a never used before piece of tubing through it. That simple! I use a paper clippy type thing to regulate how much sap I allow out the tube.

When the sap gets low in the evaporator and there isn't anymore to replace it I just empty it into the large pans and boil some more. This makes it easier to keep an eye on the progress of the boiling sap.

Then when it needs to be finished off, which I can tell by darker color and wonderful smell, I bring it inside to finish on the stove.
Finishing off syrup inside on the kitchen stove is the absolute best part! Ohhh that smell, that wonderful smell.

So then here's a question for you...if it's so darn wonderful why don't we just do the whole boiling process inside on our kitchen stove?? Hummmmm...... I wonder.

Various Ways of Collecting Sap

2008-03-24T18:10:00.008-04:00

On my way home today I stopped at several places along the road where folks were tapping their trees. See the different ways people collect sap. The blue tubes sure do look inviting!
Lots of folks, like us, still collect sap using pails attached to trees. This method is used by many small backyard producers, those hardy folks who only tap a handful or two of trees. There are many others who tap lots of trees. Many of these folks use blue tubing. The tubing runs from maple tree to maple tree. The tubing shown here in these photos are for the Bacon Farm. They tap thousands of trees and make and sell wonderful syrup! The sap flows downhill from each tree through the highway of tubes to a central collection point. The one in the video even uses a pump, I presume to send the sap even further for boiling. Listen to the pump in the video clip.

Foam and other evaporator issues

2008-03-23T11:37:00.004-04:00

Another new issue. Foam! What to do with all the foam forming on top of the boiling sap? I've read about this before. There are tricks of the trade but for me it's never been a real issue. I've always just scooped the foam off as it forms on top of the boiling sap. It gives me an excuse to keep an eye on the whole operation.
Books say to put a dab of butter on top of the boiling sap to reduce the foam but that just seems yucky. There are also commercial products folks use but who know what those are made up of. So now on to do some research on sap foam. Now that sounds exciting!
Side note: foam reduces the surface area of the boiling water so we don't want that. The more surface area, the more water can evaporate and that we want.

2008-03-23T11:25:00.005-04:00

Lessons learned....don't leave the evaporator untended! OMG! Never using an evaporator before I continued with my typical boiling routine. Filler up and walk away. Nooo noooo... you don't do that with something that boils so much faster. We smelled this aweful smell in the kitchen...the sap had boiled away and the very thick goo was close to flames. My worst nightmare. So today we will move the evaporator so we can see it better from the kitchen. We've always been able to see it but I had it closer to the opening of the garage so the "steam" would go outside and not into our garage. I've moved it so it's now in full view of our kitchen. And, I will check every few minutes. Here's what we see from our kitchen...

Tons of Sap!

2008-03-22T15:52:00.003-04:00

Boy was I wrong when I said there wasn't much sap! I went out today and every bucket was full to the top and 2 were spilling over. I had to get out our tobaggon and large storage pail to
collect today. See the posting below to see our new evaporator!

And.... the snow is still deep enough to need snowshoes.

Maple Evaporator

2008-03-22T14:52:00.006-04:00

It's been a cold and snowy week. Not much sap but enough to pull out and use our evaporator for the first time. My friend, Liz, gave it to me. It's time to learn to use it. I'm hoping this will be the key for being able to collect sap all week and boil it down on the weekends. Rather than boil every evening this week I collected the sap each day and put it in the large blue storage bin below. That frees up our collecting buckets each day. Collecting all week and boiling on weekends will fit with my new job much better. If that works then we'll collect sap again next year :)
So here's some pics of our first boiling in our evaporator.

Grandma Moses Collecting Maple Sap

2008-03-15T17:14:00.002-04:00

Here are pictures of 2 paintings I have that were done by Grandma Moses. I love her artwork and her history is fascinating. Her work is so simple and wonderful.

Another Day in Mapleland!

2008-03-15T15:18:00.009-04:00

Great weekend of making maple syrup! Super tasting stuff :)
Here's a few photos of our day.

Boiling sap.

Sap is boiled down, now finishing it off on the kitchen stove.

Syrup is ready! Filtering it out.

Finished syrup!!
Syrup jars after canning. The photos of canning didn't come out very well. I'll try again with the next batch I can.

Taz, just hanging out during all this sweet smelling kitchen fun!

Maine Maple Sunday

2008-03-15T11:38:00.003-04:00

Do you have a house full of guests coming for Easter and

don't know what to do for entertainment.

How about a trip to a Maine sugarhouse.

Join the Bacon Family at

Bacon Farm Maple Products

for

Maine Maple Sunday Weekend

March 22 & 23, 2008

10-4 both days

Don't forget our Maple Cotton Candy!!

Samples of Gifford's homemade Vanilla Ice Cream topped with

Bacon Farm Maple Products Maple Syrup.

Big Sap Day!

2008-03-14T20:30:00.008-04:00

Last night was very cold and today it was so warm there was an actual hint of spring in the air! I knew it was going to be a heavy sap day. It was! Got about 1 gallon per tree. So lots of boiling down this weekend. Here's some photos of collection today.
Pictures below of the white buckets are photos of our neighbor's sap collecting set up. They have 7 trees tapped. This blue tubbing is common for folks with lots of trees and or trees that are a good hike away from home.
Hopefully I'll take you on a field trip this weekend as I plan to visit two large syrup producers. One taps 67 trees as a hobby and the other taps hundreds of trees for profit.

Frozen Sap!

2008-03-10T19:17:00.006-04:00

I went out to check sap today even though I knew there wouldn't be any. It never got much above freezing today. Boy was I surprised when I went out and found pails full to the top with ice! Kyle is probably right that the ice is probably from all that rain we had Sat. night. It just froze in the pails because I didn't check Sunday since it was so cold.

So here's a full frozen sap pail thawing by the wood stove. I'll empty them all and put them back out in the morning. That'll be fun...snowshoeing to the trees in my work clothes!
I won't boil it down because most of it is water and propane gas is pretty darn expensive. It would just use a ton of gas for even less sap (if any) than normal.

Maple Recipes

2008-03-09T19:17:00.007-04:00

Now that we've got Maple Syrup how can we use it besides over pancakes? While pouring warm maple syrup over pancakes is great here are some other uses for maple syrup. We like to pour it over cereal (instead of sugar). Pour over oatmeal (instead of sugar) and add walnuts or almonds and fruit like bananas or apples or blueberries. Pour in plain lowfat yogurt and top with tons of berries and some granola or flaxseed. Mix with butter and cinnamon and pour over halved acorn squash and bake till soft.
Basically just replace sugar with maple syrup in your favorite cooking recipe. There's probably a bit of a trick altering measurements when replacing sugar with maple syrup in baking dishes though. But it's great to pour in apple pies before baking!

Maple Butter:
6 tablespoons of butter, softened
3 tablespoons maple syrup (preferably Maine of course!)
Combine both ingredients in a small bowl and beat with mixer for 1 min or so until smooth. Cover and chill. Use chilled or bring to room temp. Great on muffins, corn bread, toast, pancakes

Salmon with Maple Syrup and Toasted Almonds
6 oz salmon filets (wild salmon is healthiest but any will work)
Scant 1/4 C brown sugar - I personally would eliminate the sugar
1/4 C maple syrup
3 Tbsp low sodium soy sauce
1 Tbsp Dijon mustard
1/4 tsp black pepper
4 tsps sliced almonds, toasted

1)Preheat oven 425 degrees
2) Place fillets in a 13X9" baking dish coated with cooking spray. Combine sugar, syrup, soy sauce, mustard, and black pepper; pour sugar mixture over fillets. cover with foil; bake at 425 degrees for 10 min. Remove foil; sprinkle fillets with almonds. Bake additional 10 min or until fish flakes easily with fork. Serve with sugar mixture.
From Cooking Light Magazine

Maple Mustard Vinaigrette
1/4 Cup red wine vinegar
1 Tbsp spiced mustard
3 Tbsp maple syrup
6 Tbsp dry white wine
2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 Tbsp minced shallots (or finely chopped onion)
2 Tbsp parsley
2 cloves minced garlic
pinch black pepper
Process all ingredients in blender until smooth. Chill for at least 3 hours in a covered jar. Vinaigrette can be stored up to 2 weeks in refrigerator.
From Maple Magic

Maple BBQ Sauce
1 medium onion, diced
2 tsp extra virgin olive oil
2 tbsp flour
1 1/2 Cup catsup
1 Cup red wine
1/2 Cup maple syrup
1/4 Cup lemon juice
2 Tbsp Worchestershire sauce
1/2 tsp cayenne
1 tsp ginger
1 Tbsp garlic powder (I use a few cloves of minced garlic instead)
1 bay leaf
In a large saucepan, saute onion in oil until transparent. Sprinkle onion with flour and cook 1 minutes more. Whisk in remaining ingredients, simmer 30 minutes or until thickened. Remove bay leaf and store in a covered container under refrigeration until ready to use.
From Maple Magic

Toasted Maple Walnuts for Salads

1/4 C walnuts pieces
1 Tbsp maple syrup
Coat walnut pieces with enough maple syrup to moisten.
Toast the walnuts on 350ish until starting to brown...keep a watchful eye!
Sprinkle on your favorite salad! Especially good with apples :)

Here's one from my friend Liz:

Maple Pumpkin Pie

2 eggs
3 Tbs sugar
1/2 tsp ground ginger
3/4 tsp. cinnamon
pinch of salt
3/4 C maple syrup
1 C undiluted evaporated milk
2 C canned pumpkin
pastry for 9" bottom crust

Beat eggs well, add sugar & spices & salt and mix. Add maple syrup, evap. milk & pumpkin and beat with rotary beater until smooth. Pour into prepared pie shell. Bake 450 degrees for 10 minutes; reduce heat to 350 degrees and bake for an additional 40 minutes or until a knife blade comes out clean when inserted in the center. Enjoy!!!

Liz

Feel free to post your favorite maple syrup recipe!

Filtering the Finished Syrup

2008-03-08T19:07:00.004-05:00

Here's the video's we've been waiting for! Filtering out the syrup. Now how's that for an exciting Saturday evening!?

Maple Syrup Making Day 2

2008-03-08T09:42:00.014-05:00

Today the temperature is already over 40 degrees F, the snow melt is streaming off our roof; it's going to be a good sap flowing day! (Later note: turns out I was wrong. Not a lot of sap. Temperature didn't get much below freezing last night so not much sap today :( Also, something very weird. I had to dump every sap pail because the sap was yellowish. I 've had off color sap before in 1 or 2 sap pails but never the entire bush. And the one pail that was almost full was a deep golden color! :( Yuck. Dump goes the sap, right into the snow. Dogs liked it:)

Yesterday we collected about 5 gallons of sap. So today is a full swing maple day. Collecting sap, boiling sap in the garage, and finishing syrup on the stove top. Hopefully by the end of the weekend we'll be ready to can our first batch!

NOTE OF CAUTION: When using a turkey fryer or other propane powered evaporator KEEP THE GARAGE DOOR OPEN!!! We don't want any carbon monoxide fumes in here!

OK, with that said here's photos of our work today....

Notice the difference in colors of the newly collected sap in the blue pail and the almost finished syrup in the pan. 5 gallons of sap turned into 1 quart of syrup

See the foam on the top of the boiling sap? Off it comes! Just scoop it off. Some folks put a dab of butter on top to reduce foaming or use a commercial defoamer. But I just scoop.

Here are 2 filters used to filter out final syrup. Heavy felt filter and thin cheesecloth type filter. Some folks use 2 layers of flannel if they don't have one of these heavy filters. I buy my filters from Bacon Farm in Sydney, ME. The heavy filter will last years. The thin one needs to be replaced every other year or so.
Wet the heavy filter to thoroughly soak then wring it well. Set up the jelly strainer (metal thingy with 3 legs) and put the filters in it. Heavy filter first, then thin filter inside. Place the whole set up on a pan or bowl.
Slowly pour the hot syrup into the filters. You can tell by looking at the bubbles when syrup is almost done. (See video clip of simmering/bubbling syrup from previous days) Another way is that when the syrup is 7 degrees F above the boiling point of water, it's ready. To figure this out, bring some water to a boil, note the boiling temp and add 7 degrees. The boiling point of water varies by where folks live and even day to day so it would need to be determined each day of syrup making.
I use a hydrometer, below. It's a bit pricey but worth it. I use to just eye ball the bubbles. When I'm doing today's syrup we'll try to get a video clip of finishing syrup. I've tried 3 times so far and keep messing it up. So stay tuned!

Finishing Off Our First Batch of Syrup

2008-03-05T19:47:00.012-05:00

No sap today. Temperature didn't get above 32 degrees F so the sap didn't flow. It was a snowy, sleety, freezing rain kind of day, March at its best.

Tonight we boiled up the rest of the sap that was left from last night's boil. It was close to done but now we finish it off in the kitchen where we can monitor it better. There is nothing worse than boiled over syrup! What a mess to clean up. Ask me how I know!

The almost done sap/syrup has to be brought to a gentle simmer to boil off some more water to get it to the right density of syrup. Then it's considered syrup.

Here are some clips showing us doing this process. Enjoy! Sure wish you could smell the wonderful smell! It's the best part, well almost!

Notice the color, size, and amount of bubbles. That is the visual sign that it's time to lower the heat even more and start checking density and to be very careful, watching very closely so it doesn't boil over. If it boils over you loose it and it's a thick, gooey, sugary mess to clean up!

(I deleted the two clips that were here because they were sideways. When I finish off my next batch I'll redo some footage. Here's a description of what I deleted.........

I was using a hydrometer that I bought from Bacon's Farm to measure the syrup's density. We want the syrup to have lots of its water boiled off. That leaves behind more sugar molecules making the finished syrup thicker and sweeter. :) Yummmmm!
I then strained the syrup while it was still hot. This gets the maple sand out. Like the clip said, it's not really sand; it's a mineral deposit that we want to get rid of. I use a jelly filter here. If you don't filter it the syrup will still be fine to eat, the "sand" sits at the bottom of the jar so you just don't use that part. But it's a better quality if you filter it out.

So stay tuned. Looks like we've got 2 good sap flowing days ahead of us before another storm comes on Sat.

!st Sap Collection of the 2008 Season!

2008-03-04T18:57:00.013-05:00

Today is March 4th and we collected sap for the first time since we tapped on Saturday March 1st. Temps were below freezing last night and as high as 41 F today. Perfect sap flowing day! I knew it was going to be a good sap day as I ate breakfast and watched the icicles dripping (note to self -icicles dripping, not a good thing as icicles = heat loss and need for insulation, will need to find the heat loss and insulate more) We gathered about 3 1/2 gallons of sap today. Here's some video clips of sap collection and a clip of boiling the sap. Next?.... a yucky wintery mix begins .

And here we begin to boil the sap. This will take hours! First I had to go get the fuel, propane gas. Some backyard syrup makers still use wood, lots of wood. I use gas like you use on a barbque grill. I boil the sap in a turkey fryer. Never had a turkey in it, only maple sap! The sap will boil from around 5:30 ish (when I get home from work) till about 11 when it starts thickening up and the there is no more sap in the pails. The almost syrup sap then goes in the refrig. until tomorrow night when I have time to finish it off. After I collect sap tomorrow and boil it up tomorrow night on the turkey fryer in the garage I will also slowly, very slowly and carefully simmer the almost syrup sap until it's syrup on the kitchen stove.

Here's what is left after 4 hours of boiling. From 3 1/2 gallons of sap down to about a quart of not yet finished syrup. It still needs to boil some more until it's a true syrup.
Stay tuned...tomorrow night will be finishing off the sap into the first syrup of the year!!
And now....more snow! It's 9:30 and it just started to snow again :)

Tree Tapping

2008-03-01T20:30:00.002-05:00

I have to warn you about this video clip, it's like watching that movie of the kids chasing the witch in the woods and the video image was all over the place, Blair Witch Trials. With that said, the clip starts out OK but slowly deteriorates.
Notice that drilling is done at a bit of an upward angle.

Now it's my turn. Graceful this process isn't!

More visuals of our fun in the sun..um...snow!

Tapping Sugar Maple Trees

2008-03-01T17:23:00.007-05:00

The view out our kitchen window.

Ger and Seneca tapping the trees. We tap 12 trees. You can see they are very close together in what is called a "sugar bush".

Tap, also called a spire, is in.

Tapping is done! Now we just wait for the sap to flow. We've tapped in snow before but never when it was snowing so hard. Weatherman Baxter (see earlier post below) was right! We've easily got a new foot of snow today. :)

What's Needed to Go Out to Tap?

2008-03-01T12:15:00.011-05:00

Some items to gather to begin the actual tapping.

Baxter, the weatherman. He predicts snow today. 8-14 inches of snow here in Central Maine :) Yippee!!! And he's right! It's snowing like crazy.

We'll need our boots.

These are old snowshoes we use to wear tapping. Now they hang on the wall, right where they belong! Thank goodness we got new ones this year! Well, there are some really nice "old fashioned" snowshoes on the market that are great for back-country. But we are not back-country so we like the ease of putting on, adjusting, and taking off the new shoes.

Great year for new snowshoes! Love TUBBS snowshoes.
And don't forget the hammer! I always forget the hammer. Need something to pound, gently, those spires in!

Preparing to Tap Trees

2008-03-01T11:45:00.007-05:00

Before I gather the supplies that I put away from last year I grab my 2 favorite maple syrup books. The book on the right, Backyard Sugarin, is my favorite. But the book on the left, North American Maple Syrup Producers Manual, is my bible. Also, the University of Maine- Cooperative Extension, has a Yankee Woodlot series of bulletins. Bulliten #7036, How to Tap Maple Trees and Make Maple Syrup, is a great and simple guide with basic information. Information such as.... the diameter of the tree needs to be at least 10" in order to tap for one bucket.

These are some of the supplies used for tapping trees. Once the materials are gathered they need to be cleaned and sterilized. Don't want any little microbes causing the sap to taste yucky!

Very important materials!!! Soap and bleach; a must. According to the Maple Syrup Producers Manual, use 1 Cup of bleach for every gallon of water. And then let the equipment sit in the bleach/water for 15 minutes. I have to admit that I don't use that much bleach and I don't have the room or time to have the equipment sit in the bleach for 15 minutes. I use a good sized "glug" of bleach per gallon of water and then swirl the equipment around in the bleachy water for a minute or so. But I do keep my equipment very clean. I go through this wash, bleach, rinse, rinse, rinse process at the beginning of the season and again at the end of the season. I also store all equipment in covered bins during the off season so it remains dust free. So remember, with your metal equipment to...wash, bleach, rinse, rinse, and rinse again.

Washing a sap bucket.

Bleaching a sap bucket. Only bleach the metal materials, not the plastic storage or collection buckets.

Drying sap buckets, now ready for 2nd and 3rd rinse.

Buckets, lids, spires and plastic collection pails and sap storage bins drying after thorough cleaning. Plastic stuff only gets a good washing with hot soapy water and a few rinses, no bleaching.

Drill to drill the holes in the tree. Use a 7/16" drillbit. Be sure to wash and steralize the drillbit!

Top is the drillbit. Bottom are the "spires", the taps that go right into the tree. I use the one on the left. The one on the right is good to use if you use milk jugs for catching sap. We did that our 1st year. They work fine but the sap buckets we now use hold more sap and are a little bit easier to use. They look better too.

Time to Make the Syrup!!

2008-03-01T09:03:00.006-05:00

This is the first post of this blog.

Happy Birthday Victoria!!! That's Vic on the right. Notice her b-e-a-u-t-i-f-u-l earrings! Victoria and Sarah are my nieces.
When it's Victoria's birthday I know it's time to make the syrup. March 1st is when we begin. Sarah, her sister, is on the left and this is the dock of the camp we rent on McGraph Pond here in Oakland!!

Well I just couldn't put a picture of the girls up without a picture of their brothers! That's Matthew next to Sarah and Andrew, who is fooling around with Vic. So here's the whole crew at the lake house. Can you feel the love!?

AAAAAAAAHHHHHHH summer!

2008 - Sap started flowing earlier in the week so I missed the first flow! :( Which is a major bummer but that's OK. Fingers are crossed there's lots more to come this year. Last year was a terrible year. So here's the question for you ....what causes the sap to flow better in some years than in others?

Keep watching as I take you through our short maple season. It's what I consider the first rite of spring...!!