Page 3 of 4 FirstFirst 1234 LastLast
Results 41 to 60 of 65

Thread: Maple Syrup 2011

  1. #41
    naturalist primitive your_comforting_company's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2009
    Location
    31º4.3'N, 84º52.7'W
    Posts
    3,969
    Blog Entries
    7

    Default

    With temps in the 80s here already, I'm afraid our tapping season is just too short for this to be feasible for me.

    Looks like you've had a great run. You really gave it your all and did a great write up with some really good pics of your setup. Great job!!
    Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing. Helen Keller

    My Plants
    My skills
    Eye Candy
    Plant terminology reference!
    Moving pictures


  2. #42

    Default

    I don't know what it'd take to get it to you, Winnie, customs?, but I'd gladly send you a bottle from this side of the pond, lol. I've never shipped anything overseas, so I don't know what's involved.

    YCC, the furthest south I see folks tapping online is Tennessee or Kentucky, that's not to say they don't but it's all I see. I beleive it's a northeast thang, and slowly fizzels as you head west and south from there, there being Maine, New York, and VERMONT. You got bees though, so you're good. hehehe I wanna get bees too, and make my living sellin' sugar.

  3. #43
    naturalist primitive your_comforting_company's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2009
    Location
    31º4.3'N, 84º52.7'W
    Posts
    3,969
    Blog Entries
    7

    Default

    That would be a "sweet" lifestyle hehe.

    I have a feeling that the forum is going to need a bartering section soon

  4. #44

    Default

    Yes it would!

    I was gonna pull my taps, but we're in the midst of another cold snap, so I think I'll hold off. I'm up to 7.5 gallons now and hoping for two more. Once the weather warms above freezing and stays there, even for just two days, the sap slows or stops, sap in buckets and tanks quickly begins to gewt cloudy and sours, and the buckets and such start molding. This warmup we had gave me a chance to get my holding tanks cleaned up, buckets washed, more wood split and now I'm just waiting on the trees to give it up.

  5. #45
    naturalist primitive your_comforting_company's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2009
    Location
    31º4.3'N, 84º52.7'W
    Posts
    3,969
    Blog Entries
    7

    Default

    I told y'all about that easter snap! It's 87F here today.. maples here are probably pushing sap back into the ground LOL.

  6. #46

    Default

    87!!!! Oh man, it's getting down to 10 here tonight, and now the weatherman says it's supposed to be below freezing for two days straight or more. Extended shows 68 by next Saturday, so now I don't know what to think.

  7. #47
    naturalist primitive your_comforting_company's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2009
    Location
    31º4.3'N, 84º52.7'W
    Posts
    3,969
    Blog Entries
    7

    Default

    I think it's time to dirty them buckets up again hehe

  8. #48
    Super Moderator crashdive123's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2008
    Location
    North Florida
    Posts
    44,846

    Default

    Yep - looking forward to the cold front moving in on Friday. Highs will be down to 75.
    Can't Means Won't

    My Youtube Channel

  9. #49
    reclinite automaton canid's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2007
    Location
    Central California/West Texas
    Posts
    6,622

    Default

    the furthest south I see folks tapping online is Tennessee or Kentucky, that's not to say they don't but it's all I see. I beleive it's a northeast thang
    there's a common misconception that you can only get good sugar yields in such areas. of course, maple (or other tree) species contributes greatly to sugar content, and climate/weather does as well, but a lot of people take old folk guidelines too closely to heart at some times. there's some truth to it, but it's not carved in stone.
    Any sufficiently advanced incompetence is indistinguishable from malice - Grey's Law.
    --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    To see what's going on in my knife shop check out CanidArmory on Youtube or on Facebook.

  10. #50

    Default

    It could just be a quality issue as well canid. When the weather warms or the trees bud the sap gets cloudy with bacteria. Many folks say to toss this sap, while many others say use it. It makes a darker syrup overall, but many, especially locally prefer the darker, stronger "maple" flavored syrup.

    I've had two batches of cloudy sap now and both have came out great and made excellent maple syrup, all who have tasted it prefer this flavorwise, I like both the light and the dark, but the light doesn't have the "maple" flavor that most are used to.

    I've seen reports that cloudy sap makes bitter or burned flavor syrup, but so far, in my experience, that just isn't the case, it tastes great with no burned taste or bitter aftertaste. I suppose if the sap was real cloudy and completely soured it would not make good syrup, but cloudy sap that has set for 3 or 4 days in above 40 F temps turns out just fine.

    Just a guess, but I would think that sap collected in areas that don't get a consistent freeze/ thaw cycle would produce this type of syrup. Most of the literature and online references to maple are from a commercial aspect, and are not from a "I just want something sweet to put on my pancakes" perspective.

    I boiled down 22 gallons of 3% cloudy sap yesterday that had sat for 4 days in below freezing temps and, after filtering, I got 1/2 gallon of dark amber syrup, batch #6. This syrup was the same color as my 4th batch which was clear sap and kept at or just above freezing and boiled within 2 days.

    I've made about 8.3 gallons so far and with next weeks temps returning to the 40's in the day and below freezing at night I'm hoping for one more good run to bring it up to an even 10 gallons for the season, which was my original goal.

    Batch 6 color:

    Guests can not see images in the messages. Please register in the forum.

  11. #51
    naturalist primitive your_comforting_company's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2009
    Location
    31º4.3'N, 84º52.7'W
    Posts
    3,969
    Blog Entries
    7

    Default

    Gorgeous syrup! Bacon, eggs, pancakes, all slathered and sopping with some of that lovely syrup... You're making me hungry!!

  12. #52
    Senior Member randyt's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2010
    Location
    tip of the mitt
    Posts
    5,258

    Default

    Interesting thread. We still have cold temps up here, actually the sap quit running. I'm waiting for it to warm up during the day so it'll run again.
    I noticed you have a candy thermometer in your pan, what temps do you shoot for? I finished my syrup off at 225 degrees. Is that too hot?

  13. #53

    Default

    I don't use the candy thermometer anyore, it didn't havefine enough graduations for determining syrup. I actually don't use temp anymore either, but use a syrup hydrometer instead. I use a digital thermometer set to 217 F and when the alarm goes off i start checking the molten bubbly goo with the hydro until it's syrup.

    I'd say 225 is a bit too high as most of mine reaches syrup at around 219-220, but thermometers are thrown off by barometer, rate of boil, and altitude, so + or - 5 degrees is likely.

    Once I started using the hydro I realized I had been making my syrup too thin, as the sheeting action off the spoon is really pronounced when it's syrup. It almost just hangs there in chunks when it's syrup, and the time from when it first starts sheeting until it becomes syrup is quite long. The hydro makes it easy, just fill the cup, gently lower the hydro in and if the level of the syrup rests on the red line, it's syrup, 32 degrees baume, and nothing affects that reading but the temp of the syrup, it can even be tested at room temp, you just make adjustments to the scale based on the temp of the syrup.

  14. #54
    Senior Member randyt's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2010
    Location
    tip of the mitt
    Posts
    5,258

    Default

    thanks for the info, it gives me something to shoot for.

  15. #55

    Default

    You're welcome! BTW, the hydro is only 12 bucks and I got my digital thermometer at Walwart for like 13 bucks or something. Oh, and if you buy one you don't need the 27 dollar SS cup they sell with it, a copper tube or even a piece of pvc, or a SS thermos will do. As long as it's 8" deep and 1+" wide or so the short hydrometer will float, and that's all that's needed. Considering I ruined my HVAC thermometer last year and ruined the cheapo candy thermometer this year, that ain't too bad a price to pay for reliability and ease of use.

    On a side note:

    I'm thinking that as a commercial venture this may not work for me. I've already given away half of what I've made, 4 gallons worth. But, I've sold enough to more than pay for the wood I bought, 138 bucks, and still have plenty more to sell and eat.

    I'm setting aside a bottle or two for this forum, Boots in the field, if we're still doing that, and plan on doing a giveaway on another forum I visit.

    At this point I'm pretty well set for next year and have this syrup making thing down to a science, no more fidgeting around wondering what to do next, or worrying I'm going to burn a batch. I just go out, fill the pans, start the fire, and start the routine; skim foam, scoop sap, feed wood, and repeat. When I'm down to the last pan and it starts foaming up I start testing for density, once it hits the red line for hot test I have the filters all warmed and wet; dump in the hot syrup and start pulling prefilters, once it's filtered I already have the water boiling in the double boiler and bottles ready to fill, heat it back up to 190 and start filling, wiping, capping, and tipping bottles. Then it's time to clean up all the pots, filters and such and put it all away for the next go round. By the time I'm done with cleanup, both inside and outside, and have taken a break, the bottles are cool and I just pack them away in the box they came in.

    I've found that there are probably 10 thousand recipes for maple; baked beans, BBQ sauce, salad dressing, all kinds of desserts, maple coated pecans and peanuts, MMM, granulated maple sugar, maple cream, maple toffee, hard maple candy, soft maple candy, maple lollipops, lol, the list goes on and on. I've never considered maple for anything other than syrup for pancakes, french toast, bacon and sausage, but the uses are endless, it's sugar. First thing i'm gonna do when season is done is make a big ole batch of maple coated peanuts.

  16. #56

    Default

    OK, one last post for the season, some recipes:

    Maple coated peanuts!

    http://youtu.be/hFam2Wo7NPk

    You can use any nuts really, but I used peanuts.

    1 lb. nuts to 6-8 oz. of syrup

    Heat syrup in pan to 242 F
    Heat nuts in 225 F oven
    When syrup reaches 242 add the nuts, turn off the heat, and stir until the sugar become granulated or powdery looking, no longer liquid.
    Spread the nuts on a cookie sheet to cool and eat em up.
    They taste similar to honey roasted peanuts.

    Make sure the pan you heat the syrup in is big enough to stir in the nuts, and be careful not to burn the syrup.
    This recipe takes about 1/2 hour to make.

    Maple Dressing

    This comes from epicurious.com

    1/4 cup mayo
    1/4 cup maple syrup
    3 TBSP white vinegar
    2 tsp sugar
    1/2 cup veg. oil

    Whisk all but oil to blend, then gradually whisk in oil until slightly thick
    Season to taste with salt and pepper
    Refrigerate, and re-whisk before using

    This goes REAL good in a salad with dried cherries, apple slices, walnuts and baby greens

    Maple Glaze

    Bring 3 TBSP balsamic vineger to boil and add:
    1/2 cup maple syrup
    1/2 cup chicken broth

    Reduce to 1/2 volume and serve over finished pork chops or chicken, we used pork chops.

    This recipe will harden as it sits, so it's best to prepare and use immediately.

  17. #57
    Senior Member ClayPick's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2008
    Location
    Nova Scotia
    Posts
    706

    Default

    The weather was to cold for a a good run of sap this year, then again it's a fickle science at best. I'm getting by on this babby!
    Guests can not see images in the messages. Please register in the forum.

  18. #58

    Default

    I don't know what it is, but it looks real good.

  19. #59
    Senior Member Winnie's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2009
    Location
    Middle England
    Posts
    5,785
    Blog Entries
    1

    Default

    I have no idea either, it could be a type of Maple syrup Danish(the pastry not the people). Whatever it is, I'd like some!
    Recession; A period when you go without something your Grandparents never heard of.

  20. #60
    Administrator Rick's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2007
    Location
    Central Indiana
    Posts
    58,832

    Default

    I should remind you about our QC department. I assume the part that's missing has been sent for testing.
    Tracks Across the High Plains...Death on the Bombay Line...A Touch of Death and Mayhem...Dead Rock...The Griswald Mine Boys...All On Amazon Books.

Tags for this Thread

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •