I was able to collect almost half a gallon of maple sap today! I have it cooking on the stove top right now. It's been maybe 45 minutes and it has boiled down to about half the original volume.
Contrary to what some people say, silver maple syrup is actually pretty good. The sugar content is lower, but that just means it takes more sap to produce syrup. The small amount of syrup we made yesterday a very distinctive maple syrup flavor- with a bit more of a nutty flavor than the commercially available syrup I've had.
We had a bit of a problem yesterday with bark and other debris falling into the open top of the bucket, as well as the rain that was sprinking on and off. So I looked around the garage to see if there was anything that might work as a 'roof' for the pail. There in the corner were a couple of lawn signs for political candidates. I put up one or two every couple of years and never know what to do with them after the election. Well-- here's a good use!
Many thanks to Betty McCollum for her contribution to our maple syruping effort! And's she's not a bad legislator either.
Contrary to what some people say, silver maple syrup is actually pretty good. The sugar content is lower, but that just means it takes more sap to produce syrup. The small amount of syrup we made yesterday a very distinctive maple syrup flavor- with a bit more of a nutty flavor than the commercially available syrup I've had.
We had a bit of a problem yesterday with bark and other debris falling into the open top of the bucket, as well as the rain that was sprinking on and off. So I looked around the garage to see if there was anything that might work as a 'roof' for the pail. There in the corner were a couple of lawn signs for political candidates. I put up one or two every couple of years and never know what to do with them after the election. Well-- here's a good use!
Jeff - try using lines and 5 gal. buckets or plastic bags with that close entirely. Bark is a small problem, but bugs will get in there very soon, if they haven't already. They're nasty to filter out...
ReplyDeleteI like the layout! great background pic - it's bold but doesn't interfere with the text. Cheers!
ReplyDeleteThanks Josh! I actually considered using my winemaking equipment. I have some surgical tubing for siphoning wine, but I tried fitting it over the spile, and it was too small. It would have looked kind of funny anyway-- a 6 gallon glass carboy with surgical tubing going to the tree- the neighbors would know for sure that I'd lost it then!
ReplyDeleteLoved reading thiis thank you
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