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Deleted member 10829
Guest
I was over at rp7x's today watching him make maple syrup. Pretty neat how it works, I've never seen it being made before.
That's a nice stove and cooker. My brothers make syrup with a similiar operation and it takes some skill and experience to "get it just right". Most of that skill and experience is handed down from one generation to the next.
Was up at our friends place. They have a pretty big operation. thursday we collected about 1200 gallons of sap and friday we got about 1900 gallons. Plus whatever the parents and brother collected. talk about alot of work. As of last weekend they had about 350 gallons of finished syrup fun to help out and watch them cook it.
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mjkaliszak
New member
I can remember tapping tree's when I was a kid, we spent alot of time in the woods. The stuff my poor parents put up with. Anyhow.... the tin cans I used to hang never made it back with any sap in them.... I drank it all.
Move ahead 40 years.... and last year I was asking about maple sryup, we received some from a friend who owned a farm. It was not stuff they sold to the public and was very dark with a designation of 2nd's on the jug. It was THE BEST I had ever had and I even tried to buy some like it from various farms in M ( with no avail )I. There is allegedly some specialty dark grades for sale however I can't seem to locate anything like the quality & taste of that one jug that was gifted to us.
Talk about a bummer, my daughter kicked the dude to the curb and now I have to buy " Dark Amber " that doesn't compare.
Move ahead 40 years.... and last year I was asking about maple sryup, we received some from a friend who owned a farm. It was not stuff they sold to the public and was very dark with a designation of 2nd's on the jug. It was THE BEST I had ever had and I even tried to buy some like it from various farms in M ( with no avail )I. There is allegedly some specialty dark grades for sale however I can't seem to locate anything like the quality & taste of that one jug that was gifted to us.
Talk about a bummer, my daughter kicked the dude to the curb and now I have to buy " Dark Amber " that doesn't compare.
heres the email to my friends place. They might be able to hook u up with some dark stuff. www.valhallabb.com/
how many trees does it take to come up with much sap?
What a contraption! Can someone tell me what the process is?
I'll bet that is some top shelf stuff. I would assume it would be comparable to banging ditches in Illinois vs smooth groomed trails in the great white north. Once you've head the fresh homemade stuff I'm sure it's tough to go back to Mrs. Butterworths.
dj2muchjunk
New member
on a bad day about 1 gallon per tree on a good day up to 4ish gallons per tree,maybe more, no promises on any given day, about 30 to 45 gallons of sap per gallon of syrup. The dark your talking about usually comes from late season, while it tastes as good as the early it's not blue ribbon as the lighter syrup.So in a good year 50 trees maybe 35 gallons of syrup. But maple syrup cooking is really a crap shoot. really good exercise and you are in the great outdoors!
realy dark
just came in from finishing my second batch , it takes 80 gallons sap , some trees will do 2 gallons over night most less , a supper large truck load of wood i prefer pine , burns hotter to make 2 gallons of syrupe , 48 hrs burning hard , i keep the upper tank full , it drips into the pan at about 140* then if i keep the fire going full bore i never lose the boil , i finish it over gas and test it with a hydrometer it is so sweet it can just about make tour teeth hurt
just came in from finishing my second batch , it takes 80 gallons sap , some trees will do 2 gallons over night most less , a supper large truck load of wood i prefer pine , burns hotter to make 2 gallons of syrupe , 48 hrs burning hard , i keep the upper tank full , it drips into the pan at about 140* then if i keep the fire going full bore i never lose the boil , i finish it over gas and test it with a hydrometer it is so sweet it can just about make tour teeth hurt
yoopermike
New member
From my experience, the 'dark' syrup comes later in the sapping season when sugar content drops well below 2% in the sap. The stuff that I've helped make this year started at close to 3% sugar content, and the syrup is near clear, prime grade stuff. I've also heard that evaporating very slowly will cause the darkening of the final product. Evaporate as quick as possible and can, and it should be a clear, prime product.
yoopermike
New member
One more thing to add, processing immediately, within 24 hrs helps keep it clear. Seems like if you let the sap sit for more than a couple of days, even if it's kept chilled, your product gets darker.
You didn't know that? Mass producers don't use real maple syrup can't do it would cost too much + produce product 365 days a year not just Spring. Real Maple Syrup comes from the little guys in Spring very limited run time.
You didn't know that? Mass producers don't use real maple syrup can't do it would cost too much + produce product 365 days a year not just Spring. Real Maple Syrup comes from the little guys in Spring very limited run time.
I knew it wasn't "real". I just figured they at least put a little "base stock" in it. Nothing but a long list of chemicals that I'm pretty sure are not food!! Lol!
I had the advantage of calling on several maple syrup packagers large & small & yep the big companies nothing but chemicals & food coloring. The little guys are very pround & independent bussiness men that count every penny they spend but they do package real maple syrup using thier receipe.