In search of maple syrup

[TBRS1]

I have a bunch of land acres that do nothing but quietly exist, pumping out free oxygen for those who need it. A lot of those oxygen pumps are maple trees.

I just got a box of these mysterious metal objects in the mail:

These are taps for trees. They're called "spiles." They are used by drilling a hole in a tree, tapping in the spile, hanging a bucket on the hook, and collecting buckets of tree juice.

The tree juice is boiled until about 90% evaporates (10 gallons of tree juice is reduced to 1 gallon of syrup).

The sap usually starts flowing around late Feb, early March around here - you want below freezing temps at night, and above freezing during the day. Crazy weather patterns these days, though, so... really, any time now.

I've never done this before. I'm really looking forward to trying!

P.S. I love all my trees. Tapping does not harm them at all. If it did, I wouldn't do it.

 

[tree]

There's a sugar shack in operation less than a mile
down the road from me. In the other direction, a
yak farm.

 

[TBRS1]

There's a sugar shack in operation less than a mile
down the road from me. In the other direction, a
yak farm.

LOL - seriously? Yaks? I've never met a yak before.

For now, my sugar shack is the back deck, but if this goes well, I'll tear down the old hunting blinds (I don't hunt - the blinds haven't been used in 30 years) and use them to build a sugar shack for next year.

 

[TBRS1]

So now I've looked at pictures of baby yaks, and I want one.

 

[Levitator]

There's a sugar shack in operation less than a mile
down the road from me. In the other direction, a
yak farm.

I didn't know there was a non-figurative sense of the term.

 

[tree]

Sugar shack - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Guy across the road from me used to make maple syrup,
when his kids were young. Now he just grows marijuana.

 

[TBRS1]

I didn't know there was a non-figurative sense of the term.

So... The deal is this - your boiling massive amounts of water to evaporate it. The sugar shack gets very, very steamy - your clothes get wet and uncomfortable, so you start removing them to get more comfortable...

...and the "sugar shack" gets a reputation.

 

[Levitator]

So... The deal is this - your boiling massive amounts of water to evaporate it. The sugar shack gets very, very steamy - your clothes get wet and uncomfortable, so you start removing them to get more comfortable...

...and the "sugar shack" gets a reputation.

That's actually really funny.

 

[wards]

We dont really eat much maple syrup here in the UK, its mostly Golden Syrup.

 

[tree]

Golden syrup - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

This Is Why the Brits Love Golden Syrup So Much—and Why You Will, Too!

This favorite British sweetener has been around for over a hundred years and brings a unique buttery, caramel-like flavor to baked goods, puddings, and more. Here we explain how to use golden syrup and what to use if you don't have golden syrup. Also the interesting history of golden syrup.

www.marthastewart.com

How to Make Homemade Golden Syrup

Save yourself money and learn how to make delicious homemade Golden Syrup with this quick, easy recipe and troubleshooting guide!

www.internationaldessertsblog.com

 

[Gerald Wilgus]

Lots of sugar shacks up here in NW Michigan. Those spiles you have look like the type made to connect to tubing so that you can hook up many trees together. Large basins for reducing the volume have been replaced by a drip feed pan with a maze-like fluid path that concentrates continuously. Hope we have a good sap run this year. Today our bike club hiked to a sugar shack this morning.

ps. It takes about 40 gallons of sugar maple sap to make a gallon of syrup. A lot of work, but the treat is worth it.

 

[TBRS1]

Lots of sugar shacks up here in NW Michigan. Those spiles you have look like the type made to connect to tubing so that you can hook up many trees together. Large basins for reducing the volume have been replaced by a drip feed pan with a maze-like fluid path that concentrates continuously. Hope we have a good sap run this year. Today our bike club hiked to a sugar shack this morning.

ps. It takes about 40 gallons of sugar maple sap to make a gallon of syrup. A lot of work, but the treat is worth it.

I'm across the state in NE Michigan - our "seasons" are just a hair behind NW Michigan. Let me know when the sap flows! (Also, when you start finding morels )

The 1:10 ratio sounded wildly optimistic. 1:40 sounds more reasonable.

This year, I'll just run tubes from the spline into individual buckets, and just try a few trees. If things go reasonably well, I'll try more trees, and connect them with tubes so they flow into a single bucket.

I have a "turkey fryer" for reducing this year. We'll see how things go.

 

[Gerald Wilgus]

I'm across the state in NE Michigan - our "seasons" are just a hair behind NW Michigan. Let me know when the sap flows! (Also, when you start finding morels )

The 1:10 ratio sounded wildly optimistic. 1:40 sounds more reasonable.

This year, I'll just run tubes from the spline into individual buckets, and just try a few trees. If things go reasonably well, I'll try more trees, and connect them with tubes so they flow into a single bucket.

I have a "turkey fryer" for reducing this year. We'll see how things go.

The morels around us usually appear when the oak leaves are at the mouse ear stage. With the orchards around me I find many white morels among the apple trees. In the fall among pines there are Boletus edulis, King Boletes, or Porcini. They are tasty. In the spring my spouse eagerly picks wild Asparagus and wild Ramp leafs. The garlicky Ramp leafs make a nice vinaigrette for roasted Asparagus.

 

[Shevek]

I only have four Manitoba Maples, with half the sugar of the best trees, but I made my own sugar for a few years, with all home-made hardware.

 

[TBRS1]

I only have four Manitoba Maples, with half the sugar of the best trees, but I made my own sugar for a few years, with all home-made hardware.

About how much final product do you get from 4 trees?

That's about how many I'm going to try tapping this year.

 

[Shevek]

About how much final product do you get from 4 trees?

That's about how many I'm going to try tapping this year.

Not enough to put a serious dent in my grocery list. I just boiled it down on my stove, and enjoyed the humidity. You have to keep after it - sap spoils quickly.

BTW, a traditional Cree greeting is "Come in. Take off your clothes." This was about getting winter garments dried out, but now, it is mostly used by teenage boys.

 

[Outdated]

We dont really eat much maple syrup here in the UK, its mostly Golden Syrup.

Golden Syrup's pretty big in Australia too, we have a huge sugar cane industry. Golden syrup used to get advertised as "The taste of the sunshine in Queensland". I prefer it to any other syrup or honey.

 

[Au Naturel]

I have a bunch of land acres that do nothing but quietly exist, pumping out free oxygen for those who need it. A lot of those oxygen pumps are maple trees.

I just got a box of these mysterious metal objects in the mail:

View attachment 125434

These are taps for trees. They're called "spiles." They are used by drilling a hole in a tree, tapping in the spile, hanging a bucket on the hook, and collecting buckets of tree juice.

The tree juice is boiled until about 90% evaporates (10 gallons of tree juice is reduced to 1 gallon of syrup).

The sap usually starts flowing around late Feb, early March around here - you want below freezing temps at night, and above freezing during the day. Crazy weather patterns these days, though, so... really, any time now.

I've never done this before. I'm really looking forward to trying!

P.S. I love all my trees. Tapping does not harm them at all. If it did, I wouldn't do it.

When I was a little boy, my Dad and I would go out collecting maple sap every winter.

 

[Jumpinbare]

My father grew up in Cairo, Georgia. Cairo is known for cane syrup. My father took us kids to see (and taste) the cane juice being rendered for syrup. We got to taste the raw cane juice and two or three stages of the boiling. This was done in an open air pole barn. Basically just a roof to keep rain out. No walls

 

[Tom]

There's a sugar shack in operation less than a mile
down the road from me. In the other direction, a
yak farm.

I never saw a Yak in real life. But I love the look of them.