Tap those trees!

[frustratedearthmother]

I love the whole idea of tapping trees, but no maples here

Guess what I just learned!!!! I have a sycamore tree...and they are kinda in the maple family....and you can tap 'em! You got any sycamore trees @baymule? So, it's tooo late this year...unless we get a late cold front which I do NOT want...but maybe next year I'll give it a shot.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Dang! That's a haul!

I can imagine with my one tree that I won't get anywhere near a haul like that, lol. But, I'd like to try it just to say I did.

 

[NH Homesteader]

Happy boiling! It's lovely out today, and DD2 is past her growth spurt/whiny phase so I should be able to actually get some pics today or tomorrow

 

[treerooted]

Amazing I really would like tubing eventually...

I've got sap on the stove right now. Couldn't get started early enough, couldn't get it boiling well enough. Hoping to just finish it tonight, but if not I'll throw it in the fridge. Still have 20 L that hasn't been heated yet.

 

[NH Homesteader]

A little over 2 gallons bottled. Another gallon ready to be bottled. Many more gallons of sap to be cooked down. Love it!

Should run well through Tuesday, then it's going to get cold and snowy!

@treerooted how's it going there?

 

[baymule]

More snow? Make some pancakes and pour your syrup over them. Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

 

[NH Homesteader]

Best guess? 4-5 gallons but we have to split it with his friend that helped. Next year, we fly solo!

 

[NH Homesteader]

Well, boiling is winding down. Weather is perfect right now but looks like next week spring might actually happen, and if the trees bud, syrup making is over.

I think we'll end up with 7-8 gallons, half of which we keep. I'm over it. It's a labor of love, many, many hours of boiling.

DH made maple candy and maple sugar. I want to make maple goat milk fudge!

Next year we will do larger quantities and need to make our arch boil faster to get through it all. And we do it alone, no more giving half to people who do 10% of the work.

I will try to post more, recipes etc. Life's been in the way lately!

 

[baymule]

That is so awesome! Post pics so we can see!

Here in the south, sorghum syrup used to be the big thing. A mule walked in a circle to run the mill. People fed the cane stalks in, the mill squeezed the juice out. Evaporator pans were approximately 4’x8’ under a pole type shed to keep the rain out. A fire was kept burning under it and other people kept stirring and scooping the foam off. When the syrup was thick enough, it was drawn off and packed in cans with lids. I remember as a little girl eating biscuits and sorghum syrup at my grandparents in the fall and winter.

 

[NH Homesteader]

I have a cruddy old phone and cruddy internet service but I will try!