The line system in the back wooded lot ain't doin squat!! still 1 1/2 feet of snow at the base of the trees in the woods
Did it start flowing yet? I had one line system (first year I tried these) that for some reason wouldn't flow, the lines filled up with sap, had plenty of pitch, but it just backed up repeatedly. I ended up cutting it and adding another collection barrel, all was good again.
Judging by the weather, overnight lows, and the lack of space to keep any more sap and lack of time to boil, I think today is our last collection in CT. We're going to have about 50 more gallons of sap to boil off this weekend, and we've got Easter plans for Sunday, so it's going to be a late night Friday and a long day Saturday.
Update from folks at work today said it's going backwards this year here, getting lighter in color as the season continues!
Yep, odd, (I think it's odd, only two years into this stuff) but that seems to be what we're finding as well as some others I know. Really really light. I like light, but it'd be nice to get some amber stuff going as well.
People that were used to drinking instant coffee preferred its flavor to fresh perked.
I wouldn't touch real maple syrup until I was in my 20's, thought people were nuts for not buying the better tasting, much cheaper Aunt Jamima! Now I won't even consider pouring corn syrup all over my food.
Some producers are growing creative in their search for more revenue. The latest innovation is a push to sell “maple water” — the raw sap, straight from the tree. Producers are marketing it as a competitor to coconut water.
Here’s why: Say you have 40 gallons of maple sap on hand. You can boil that down to syrup and sell it at retail for about $40. Or, you could package it in 16-ounce cartons and sell them for $3 each — or a yield of $960 in revenue for 40 gallons.
Been wanting to do this! They must pasturize it first then bottle it to keep it from going bad, or anyone getting sick. I wonder what the market is for it. I think if I took it to a local farmers market and tried selling it for $3 a pint I'd get laughed or chased away.
Anyone sell their sap to others to boil? Just curious what sugar houses pay for raw sap if anyone knows?
I told the guy I bought my tubing from this year to be careful on how much info he gave me or I'd be his competition in a couple of years, he laughed pretty good at that one and then told me that I'd just end up selling my sap to him like everyone else does. Guess I should've asked then.