Anyone Here Make Syrup???
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Warm_in_NH
Minister of Fire
Think it's bud sap, don't mix it in and pull the tap. Seems early for it but it could just be a confused tree. It'll make a darker syrup. Could be a sick tree, either way, I'd back off that tree and try it again next year.
On a big production it'd just get watered down in the mix, but small scale you can eliminate the less than ideal trees and keep quality to notch.
Smoke Signals
Burning Hunk
Warm_in_NH
Minister of Fire
Good run this week in CT. Works taken off for me again this year so my wife's been busy boiling this time. Good yield, well worth the $200 we put into it all this year, and that will average down over the next few years with the same stuff.
In my second year of it, I must say that I think I like this new hobby.
In my second year of it, I must say that I think I like this new hobby.
Don't know what anyone else is finding but as the season wears on here, my buddies who are still boiling are finding the sugar content is going up.
our first boil was very sweet our second boil will be this weekend.......it has been hit or miss in the hills for sap flow Still pretty cold up there where I am
Update from folks at work today said it's going backwards this year here, getting lighter in color as the season continues!
Warm_in_NH
Minister of Fire
Flowing good in CT. Hard to say about sugar content going up since I switched out with my wife on boiling duties, but it's certainly staying very light. But she's collecting and boiling every other day in smaller batches.
Compared to any store bought stuff, even if we have our preferences, no matter what color it is, it's good eats.
Warm_in_NH
Minister of Fire
I find new uses daily for it. Most recent, maple bourbon glazed pork chops. Milk, 1.5 oz maple,1.5 oz spiced rum, made a kick butt batch of waffles on Sunday,; I have a bottle of maple balsamic vinegar that I bought too, good stuff.
Update: 88 gallons of sap collected so far this season in CT from 15 or 17 taps, over 2 gallons of finished product! Thank god my wife works for a dentist!
Update: 88 gallons of sap collected so far this season in CT from 15 or 17 taps, over 2 gallons of finished product! Thank god my wife works for a dentist!
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Interesting article this morning:
Americans vastly prefer fake maple syrup to the pure stuff
By Christopher Ingraham / The Washington Post
Published Apr 1, 2015 at 12:02AM
WASHINGTON — It’s peak sugaring season in much of the Northeast, when the country’s maple syrup producers tap their trees to collect the sap that flows freely this time of year. It takes about 40 gallons of maple sap — and nothing else — to make one gallon of real maple syrup. By contrast, the artificial stuff — think Aunt Jemima and Mrs. Butterworth’s — is mostly corn syrup.
Fake maple syrup resembles real maple syrup about as much as Velveeta resembles a good Camembert. But when 1,000 Americans were asked which they preferred on their pancakes, the artificial brands won out big time. More than 25 percent of respondents to a Google Consumer Survey panel said real maple syrup was their top choice. Seventy percent chose Aunt Jemima, Mrs. Butterworth’s, Log Cabin or Hungry Jack. Another 3 percent chose something else.
Looming behind this preference, of course, is the specter of price. A gallon of Mrs. Butterworth’s will set you back less than $8 at Walmart. A gallon of the real stuff, on the other hand, retails for $40 to $60 — owing to the labor-intensive process of collecting and reducing all that sap.
And this process happens on a commercial scale only in the Northeast. Vermont is the nation’s undisputed king, accounting for more than 40 percent of the total U.S. output of more than 3 million gallons in 2014. Seven of the top 10 maple-producing counties are in Vermont. There’s a surprisingly robust maple syrup industry in Ohio, Wisconsin and Michigan, too. (Our annual supply is a fraction of the 12 million gallons churned out in Canada, mostly in Quebec.)
U.S. maple syrup output has risen by more than 50 percent since about 2008. In 2013, the national maple industry’s output was worth about $132 million.
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.
Americans vastly prefer fake maple syrup to the pure stuff
By Christopher Ingraham / The Washington Post
Published Apr 1, 2015 at 12:02AM
WASHINGTON — It’s peak sugaring season in much of the Northeast, when the country’s maple syrup producers tap their trees to collect the sap that flows freely this time of year. It takes about 40 gallons of maple sap — and nothing else — to make one gallon of real maple syrup. By contrast, the artificial stuff — think Aunt Jemima and Mrs. Butterworth’s — is mostly corn syrup.
Fake maple syrup resembles real maple syrup about as much as Velveeta resembles a good Camembert. But when 1,000 Americans were asked which they preferred on their pancakes, the artificial brands won out big time. More than 25 percent of respondents to a Google Consumer Survey panel said real maple syrup was their top choice. Seventy percent chose Aunt Jemima, Mrs. Butterworth’s, Log Cabin or Hungry Jack. Another 3 percent chose something else.
Looming behind this preference, of course, is the specter of price. A gallon of Mrs. Butterworth’s will set you back less than $8 at Walmart. A gallon of the real stuff, on the other hand, retails for $40 to $60 — owing to the labor-intensive process of collecting and reducing all that sap.
And this process happens on a commercial scale only in the Northeast. Vermont is the nation’s undisputed king, accounting for more than 40 percent of the total U.S. output of more than 3 million gallons in 2014. Seven of the top 10 maple-producing counties are in Vermont. There’s a surprisingly robust maple syrup industry in Ohio, Wisconsin and Michigan, too. (Our annual supply is a fraction of the 12 million gallons churned out in Canada, mostly in Quebec.)
U.S. maple syrup output has risen by more than 50 percent since about 2008. In 2013, the national maple industry’s output was worth about $132 million.
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.
If their experiences with real maple syrup were anything like what mine were when I was a kid, then I'm not surprised. I remember trying real syrup a number of times, and always having it be burnt, or too thin. It wasn't until a friend started making it, and I tried his where I was able to recognize what it should taste like that I got into it.
Interesting concept on selling the maple sap.
I think price has more to do with it these days, but I dunno. I prefer the real thing, it's readily available, I don't use all that much, and I don't mind paying for it. But then, I like molasses and sorghum, too. Like they say, "there's no accounting for taste"
May be like something we read about back in Marketing class in college. One of the food giants spent a fortune developing instant coffee that couldn't be distinguished from fresh perked. It was a total failure. People that were used to drinking instant coffee preferred its flavor to fresh perked.
bottom line is most people think price before quality in this country.......and that's very sad but the government has done a fine job of putting the working middle class in this situation. I have a cousin that has a huge operation here in New England....the majority of his syrup goes to high end hotels in big cities, and the casinos
Other medium sized operations in my area have breakfast shacks where they use their own syrup on the breakfast preparation.......
Right now we are still learning and pretty much give it to family and friends.......my great grandpa did sap for years but I was too busy having fun collecting, and making maple flavored slush with the fresh snow to have learned all of his tricks
It's all good fun
Big boil Saturday....it's running hard this week
Other medium sized operations in my area have breakfast shacks where they use their own syrup on the breakfast preparation.......
Right now we are still learning and pretty much give it to family and friends.......my great grandpa did sap for years but I was too busy having fun collecting, and making maple flavored slush with the fresh snow to have learned all of his tricks
It's all good fun
Big boil Saturday....it's running hard this week
Warm_in_NH
Minister of Fire
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.
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.
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.
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.
sap line is flowing have around 15 gallons as of yesterday....sap line is a slow process
I build tools for the plastic bottle industry........I would not eat maple syrup from a plastic bottle period. I'll put jar honey on them first. We put all of our syrup in glass bottles.
I build tools for the plastic bottle industry........I would not eat maple syrup from a plastic bottle period. I'll put jar honey on them first. We put all of our syrup in glass bottles.
Warm_in_NH
Minister of Fire
I'm not sure Vermont really thought their syrup logo through all the way.
Hehehehehehe....
Warm_in_NH
Minister of Fire
Taps are pulled. 40 gallons of sap left to boil. Wind has been howling all day, moved boil into garage, much better now. Wind would take it from a boil to no boil.
Just want to get it all reduced to be ready for a finish boil.
Put half pints out front with the eggs for sale, $6, hope some sell, we've got a lot of syrup!
Trying to talk the wife into doing a mason jar full of the dry ingredients for pan cakes to sell along side syrup n eggs but she's not yet convinced. Farm around the corner sells milk. Full breakfast without leaving the block!
Just want to get it all reduced to be ready for a finish boil.
Put half pints out front with the eggs for sale, $6, hope some sell, we've got a lot of syrup!
Trying to talk the wife into doing a mason jar full of the dry ingredients for pan cakes to sell along side syrup n eggs but she's not yet convinced. Farm around the corner sells milk. Full breakfast without leaving the block!
Michael Golden
Feeling the Heat
I agree. I've only had artificial syrup a few times in my life. Never liked the sweet goo. I prefer to have some good grade B maple syrup or nothing and will pay the price for quality.
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