Maple Sugaring - How's the Sap Running ?

[Anonymous-0]

I'm not sure if what I noticed today was any indication but it was seemingly banner night and day for tapping and or for sap to run, got a taste of it today, made me wonder.

The dripping sap from just under the bark about 4 feet up off a cut I had to make while trimming off a section that split off to the base of trunk was running consistently all day, I put a bucket under it, had a nice dilute taste of maple, maybe I'll boil up enough to make a table spoon LOL ! We actually have a nice ridge, 11 acre wood lot of maple, easy gravity feed to one place, it's tempting, too bad it's such an operation to process. It sure was sweet though, was wondering how the taps are going where you are.

 

[Bob Kerr]

I used to do some sugaring but haven"t for a couple years now. One thing I heard about and want to try is to take some of the 3/4 way boiled down sap and use it to boil a chicken! It is a very old time thing and I heard it was my Great grandpa who did it when he ran his camp. I may tap a couple neigbors trees and see how it comes out. As far as sap running good, to depends a lot on the air temps. freezing at night and in the 40s in the day seemed to be a good time. Stop getting sap if the buds swell! it gets very strong and dark then. I liked to get my sap in late january as in this area the syrup would be much lighter in color and not have a real strong maple flavor and boy was it sweet! You can tap almost any maple and even box elders and not taste any difference. If you have never done it before, here are a couple rules, DON"T do it in the house if you don"t want water running down the walls, 40-50 gallons of sap to one gallon syrup, that is a lot of water!(don"t ask how I learned that one!) and don"t burn it when it gets thick. you will never get it out of the pan! the closer it gets to syrup lower the temp and take your time and watch it closely! Warm syrup flows easier so cool samples down till it is done to see if it is where you want the syrup to be. Let it cool and settle before bottling to let the "sand come out", but reheat it when bottling I made my evaporation pans out of new duct work metal and made an outdoor furnace with a chimney pipe to keep ashes out. I also made spiles (taps) out of maple wood. Carved them round and tapered slightly to fit the holes and seal and long enough to hang the buckets on from a notch cut in the top. drill a hole all the way through and cut a grove part way where it goes in the tree to let the sap get back inside. The wood swells and fits nice and tight in the holes. I plan on doing a bunch next year.

 

[Anonymous-0]

Good information, don't know much about processing, have seen it done a few times. Do know about the ideal weather conditions, which have been erratic in the last few years, nice to have those mid to late winter days cold at night, thawing during the day.

Always see the equipment for sale too, seems a fair amount of people bail out in a short time and if you don't have the weather.....

Sure does take a lot of sap don't it, one way to get some humidity in the house during the winter !

 

[JDemaris]

I never boiled a chicken in the condensed sap -but when working in the sap house - we often used the boiling sap to make eggs, hot dogs, etc. Made our instant coffee with it too. All that stuff tasted really good with the maple flavor - but the time the season was over - just the thought of maple syrup made me feel sick.

 

[msb]

Old (and poor) timers would make their syrup out of corn cobs and brown sugar if they didn't have access to Maple trees.Also wasn't limited to spring sap run either. They say you can't tell the difference in taste.

 

[Anonymous-0]

That I can imagine, too much of a good thing, snow just started here, well at least it's not rain !

 

[Bill in IL]

I would like to try it small scale can I just boil it off in a turkey cooker pot or is is much better to have a flat pan for more surface area?

 

[JDemaris]

Yeah, it's snowing hard here now - just started an hour ago and we're supposed to get a around a foot. Then the temps are supposed to go down to zero.

 

[JDemaris]

Some people in my area have done some fall tapping. Fall tapping was being promoted a few years ago - along with the small 1/4" taps. Seems to be a waste of time to me, and I suspect it's hard on the trees. Having to sometimes tap twice in the spring is hard enough.

 

[sjh]

You can use a turkey fryer. It just takes longer and uses lots of propane. I have done it that way.

 

[Hoss In ME]

Not yet in Maine. Getting nother 12-16 in snow tonight. Nite all,Hoss

 

[Anonymous-0]

It's amazing the difference in weather, wet sloppy snow all day, 2-3" worth is all, that place where I cut the tree was pouring out sap,not dripping anymore though I think it had to be snow/rain as it was much more diluted tasting than yesterday, you could really detect the maple/sugar flavor, did get a bucket full, was covered to keep the snow out, been on the stove boiling down, has good color, and a little sawdust for flavor, just a test though, what the heck, always something to learn I suppose.

 

[Vito]

The sugar house I help started collecting today.Supposed to get cold on thursday so we expect a break in the action.Raining in CT this evening.

Vito