Author Topic: Maple syrup (Read 2417 times)

74cb750 · « **on:** February 28, 2009, 05:44:35 AM »

My neighbors are starting their sap runs this week.
Now if I can only find a job so I can buy a $54/gallon of it.

Dusthawk · « **Reply #1 on:** February 28, 2009, 05:50:17 AM »

Hey, that's only 13.50 per quart

How much you need anyway?!?

74cb750 · « **Reply #2 on:** February 28, 2009, 05:54:41 AM »

I have a sweet tooth, what can I say?

When I was a kid in Canada we used to make 'tier candy', sugar-on-snow. Takes a lot of syrup.

tramp · « **Reply #3 on:** February 28, 2009, 07:12:11 AM »

not alot of bad things you can say about maple syrup

bwaller · « **Reply #4 on:** February 28, 2009, 03:53:26 PM »

As a maple syrup producer I'm glad that there are people here who know the product. The prices have increased in the last year as a result of two years below average production. At this point the bulk price is way higher than what we retail for but it's also important to keep our customers.

We're back into a deep freeze so the poor maple trees are waiting for some more warmer air to trigger sap flow and I have a few more nights in the shop instead of the sugar house!

Gordon · « **Reply #5 on:** February 28, 2009, 04:00:49 PM »

Quote from: bwaller on February 28, 2009, 03:53:26 PM

As a maple syrup producer I'm glad that there are people here who know the product.

I'm married to a native Vermonster, so what I didn't already know about real maple syrup I have had beaten into me over the past 9 years.

It's true, though. There is no substitute and it's worth every penny.

Rocking-M · « **Reply #6 on:** February 28, 2009, 04:50:40 PM »

Can you ship me a gallon???

Dusthawk · « **Reply #7 on:** February 28, 2009, 04:54:59 PM »

Actually, there is one substitute that I use just about as often as maple syrup, Honey. Unfiltered raw honey I buy from a producer in South Dakota. He had a brother just down the road from me and we got to talking not long after I moved out here. He offered me a great deal I couldn't pass up, $20 per gallon in 5 gallon buckets. I've only bought two buckets so far, but even making Mead I still have enough left to share with neighbors, lol.

Honey on buckwheat pancakes, Awesome!!

bwaller · « **Reply #8 on:** February 28, 2009, 05:26:43 PM »

Rocking-M, I sure can. Send me a pm if you're serious.

fuzzybutt · « **Reply #9 on:** February 28, 2009, 06:43:13 PM »

thats one of the things i miss about living in vermont. that and living fairly near the cabot dairy

UnCrash · « **Reply #10 on:** February 28, 2009, 07:01:10 PM »

I do love maple syrup. I once worked as a sawyer, the property owner where my mill was tapped a few trees and boiled his own. He got tired of it all after he had 5 gallons so I would finish up the remainder. Always was super dark, end of season stuff but was just fantasitc.

bender01 · « **Reply #11 on:** February 28, 2009, 07:33:38 PM »

I went to High School in Saint Johnsbury VT. The maple capitol of the world. Maple grove farms. I remember as a kid late nights hanging out in the shack loading planks into the arch. We used to cook hotdogs in the sap. Collecting it then was still with buckets but a few had gravity lines. That would definetly be the way to go. Its @ 40 gallons of sap to 1 gallon syrup if i remember right.?

bwaller · « **Reply #12 on:** February 28, 2009, 07:47:22 PM »

Quote from: bender01 on February 28, 2009, 07:33:38 PM

I went to High School in Saint Johnsbury VT. The maple capitol of the world. Maple grove farms. I remember as a kid late nights hanging out in the shack loading planks into the arch. We used to cook hotdogs in the sap. Collecting it then was still with buckets but a few had gravity lines. That would definetly be the way to go. Its @ 40 gallons of sap to 1 gallon syrup if i remember right.?

Yes, that's about right, depending on the sugar content, and of course reverse osmosis!

fuzzybutt · « **Reply #13 on:** February 28, 2009, 08:03:39 PM »

Quote from: bender01 on February 28, 2009, 07:33:38 PM

I went to High School in Saint Johnsbury VT. The maple capitol of the world. Maple grove farms. I remember as a kid late nights hanging out in the shack loading planks into the arch. We used to cook hotdogs in the sap. Collecting it then was still with buckets but a few had gravity lines. That would definetly be the way to go. Its @ 40 gallons of sap to 1 gallon syrup if i remember right.?

i lived in greensboro, exactly halfway between hardwick and craftsbury. mmmmmmmmmmmm syrup, the real stuff not like 99.9% of the bottled crap you get at the local piggly wiggly.

bender01 · « **Reply #14 on:** February 28, 2009, 08:15:31 PM »

Used to ride my sled to Ellas pizza in Hardwick.

fuzzybutt · « **Reply #15 on:** February 28, 2009, 08:16:35 PM »

how cool, small world isnt it? i had a place right on lake Eligo.

Gordon · « **Reply #16 on:** March 01, 2009, 03:22:00 AM »

My wife grew up in Johnson, VT. We just spent a week up there in July with her family at a cabin on lake Parker in West Glover. I'd never been up there before. It's a really beautiful place.

HondanutRider · « **Reply #17 on:** March 01, 2009, 05:42:33 AM »

This thread needs a picture that's on-topic.

azuredesign · « **Reply #18 on:** March 01, 2009, 06:23:28 AM »

Man, with the weather we're getting in New England this coming week, I don't know if it'll get warm enough during the day for the sap to run, freaking cold and snowy!

Frankencake · « **Reply #19 on:** March 01, 2009, 07:40:51 AM »

Have any of you ever tried Birch Syrup? It is quite tasty. It is a product of Canada and Alaska. The only way I know about it is that I used to date a woman who owned a share of a company that made the stuff. She took me up to Alaska for 6 weeks while I worked as a sap sucker way out in the bush on a homestead.
The ratio for birch is 100:1. That season we collected 32,000 gallons of sap out of 2000 taps to produce 320 gallons of pure. It was quite an operation....

rbmgf7 · « **Reply #20 on:** March 01, 2009, 08:05:46 AM »

just had pancakes this morning but with walmart syrup. never had real maple syrup so would've been nice to try it.

question (i don't know anything about maple syrup or sapping) but can you keep getting syrup from the same tree over and over again every year?

74cb750 · « **Reply #21 on:** March 01, 2009, 08:31:52 AM »

A single tree will produce for many years, not sure how many though.

I have been culling the pine/fir/softwoods off my property for past 6 years and hope to have mostly maple and other hardwoods when I retire.....to make maple syrup. If, a big if, I don't get sick of the low paying jobs in Vermont...

fuzzybutt · « **Reply #22 on:** March 01, 2009, 08:57:25 AM »

the trick to keeping the good stuff fresh, according to the folks i used to get my syrup from, is to keep it in the freezer.

bwaller · « **Reply #23 on:** March 01, 2009, 10:18:06 AM »

I have some trees that are 150 years old. These trees run sap every spring to survive. We get a small percentage of the flow. A healthy tree heals the taphole over in one season. In a nutshell, when the weather conditions are right the tree buds trigger sap flow from through the outer layer of wood from starch stored in the roots to the tree top. Maple sap is a clear fluid like water with let's say 2.5 brix.

A taphole may run a couple gallons of sap per day when the condions are correct, which is below freezing at night followed by above freezing the next day. The sap then is boiled, (most use reverse osmosis as well first) evaporating off enough water until the sap is concentrated to ideally 66.5 brix and is now maple syrup. (On average it takes 40 gals. sap to produce one gal syrup. The quicker this proccess, the better the syrup, the best tasting most delicate product is a golden light colour.

Yellow birch also produce a clear sap, they run more than a maple tree. I had an uncle that made vinegar from birch sap.

Duke McDukiedook · « **Reply #24 on:** March 01, 2009, 10:55:02 AM »

Quote from: rbmgf7 on March 01, 2009, 08:05:46 AM

just had pancakes this morning but with walmart syrup. never had real maple syrup so would've been nice to try it.

question (i don't know anything about maple syrup or sapping) but can you keep getting syrup from the same tree over and over again every year?

Oh man, real maple syrup is the only thing I will put on my pancakes these days.
Just about to make a short stack with some Vermont Fancy from Baird Farm in Chittenden, VT. Yummy

When my family took a trip from Boston up to Killington that was the first time I had real maple syrup, been hooked ever since. Mom orders a case of it every year.

HondanutRider · « **Reply #25 on:** March 01, 2009, 01:22:12 PM »

Every few years we tap some birch. Its white birch that I've tapped and when it runs, usually just when the maples have finished, it really produces. As stated before, you need a lot more of it than maple to boil down, which also takes a long time. Its not really sweet like the maple syrup - you wouldn't want it on your pancakes. Its more like a balsamic vinaigrette and is used as a seasoning or marinade. We like it on grilled salmon or pork- particularly good on pork tenderloin. It also can be used to make a salad dressing. More expensive and rarer to get than maple syrup.

Frankencake · « **Reply #26 on:** March 01, 2009, 02:11:20 PM »

The Birch syrup, which came from white paper birch, went off at 65 brix. We ran it through an R/O that brought it up to a whopping 6.5 brix concentrate before evaporating it in the wood fired unit. It ended up as a sweet and flavorful syrup that was great on pancakes. The company also makes a "breakfast" blend with mixing it with (?) corn syrup.
From the R/O we had about hundreds of gallons of water a day that we stored for cooking, baths and drinking. Even though it went through the R/O, it still had just a hint of flavor. There is nothing like drinking water that came from a tree in Alaska.
Check em out: http://www.alaskabirchsyrup.com/

bwaller · « **Reply #27 on:** March 01, 2009, 05:32:26 PM »

Cool story 78SS.

74cb750 · « **Reply #28 on:** March 02, 2009, 05:50:15 AM »

well, as far as birch sapping...none of th trees on my land seem to live long enough to grow more than 8 inches in diameter. I imagine this would be to small to tap.

Frankencake · « **Reply #29 on:** March 02, 2009, 07:31:07 AM »

Quote from: 74cb750 on March 02, 2009, 05:50:15 AM

well, as far as birch sapping...none of th trees on my land seem to live long enough to grow more than 8 inches in diameter. I imagine this would be to small to tap.

Yeah, I've been looking around Vermont for a stand of birch that wouldn't give up the ghost too soon. They don't really live long down here.
The problem is that you need 95-100 gal/sap to make 1 gal/syrup. You have to tap a lot of trees to get results for even one day. If you don't mind a big dead patch on your land then try it. I can't really tell you how small is too small. We had large trees to choose from up there.--ss

goon 1492 · « **Reply #30 on:** March 02, 2009, 09:48:56 AM »

growing up on real maple syrup and honey, I do support maple makers and am training my kids to do the same, just as I had to break my wife of only buying white bread, espically since I grew up on real wheat bread....
My step dad tried to make maple syrup from our red maple tree one year when I was growing up, didn't come out quite as he planned. Now I just use the wood for smokin on the grill, good stuff along with pecan....

Frankencake · « **Reply #31 on:** March 02, 2009, 10:04:40 AM »

Quote from: goon 1492 on March 02, 2009, 09:48:56 AM

growing up on real maple syrup and honey, I do support maple makers and am training my kids to do the same, just as I had to break my wife of only buying white bread, espically since I grew up on real wheat bread....
My step dad tried to make maple syrup from our red maple tree one year when I was growing up, didn't come out quite as he planned. Now I just use the wood for smokin on the grill, good stuff along with pecan....

So we can assume that your picture represents the outcome of growing up on wheat bread and maple syrup?

goon 1492 · « **Reply #32 on:** March 02, 2009, 01:30:05 PM »

Nooooo, that's 6 good unfiltered wheat beers from Boulevard brewery+ bordom.

Oh wait I did say wheat..... well could be worse at least I'm not corn fed....

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Author Topic: Maple syrup (Read 2417 times)

Rocking-M

fuzzybutt

fuzzybutt

fuzzybutt

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