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02/25/2013 05:13:30 PM · #26 |
| I'll check out Mapletrader... I think I remember that it could be as bad as 80:1, so yeh, pretty dilute. Of course if I actually tapped them, I'd really like to set up some sort of vacuum-assisted system for boiling down. |
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02/25/2013 06:09:42 PM · #27 |
I wouldn't know the 1st thing about making syrup..... Down here we use cane to make cane syrup...I love that stuff.
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02/25/2013 06:38:49 PM · #28 |
Originally posted by cowboy221977:
I wouldn't know the 1st thing about making syrup..... Down here we use cane to make cane syrup...I love that stuff. |
Oh it's easy enough to make, you just collect a lot of sap and boil it down! But it's the vast quantities of sap you need to collect - I go by the traditional 40/1 ratio (ie have to collect 40 gallons of sap to make 1 gallon syrup) - and the equally vast amount of work in boiling them down. I've known people who go through 10 cord of wood to boil down their sap in a sugar shack. In a pinch I'll use my stove to help speed the boiling along, but try to use my castiron woodstove as much as possible. I use the last of my year's firewood, approx 1.5 cord.
Once you've collected sap you have 4 days in which to boil it before it spoils. And unlike here  you can't control the flow. Short of pulling the spiles but then the tree weeps sap from the spile holes, and collecting sap costs the tree approx 10% of its sap for the year. So you can't quit on a whim.
Message edited by author 2013-02-25 18:43:55. |
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02/25/2013 08:37:29 PM · #29 |
yeah Susan...We dont have alot of mapels here...I dont think it would be the same with an Oak or pine. Oak syrup / pine syrup...prob not too tasty. I do know using ribbon cane you can boil it down and it is definitely an in depth process.
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02/25/2013 08:46:59 PM · #30 |
d'oh double post...
Message edited by author 2013-02-25 20:49:39. |
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02/25/2013 08:47:22 PM · #31 |
d'oh triple post...yeah I'm good...;-)
Message edited by author 2013-02-25 20:51:01. |
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02/25/2013 08:47:28 PM · #32 |
| Yep, but if you've got a lot of birches you might be able to make some syrupy type stuff from them too, Adam...but I have no experience there, only with sugar maples! I have heard of cane syrup but never tried it, what's it taste like? Say in relation to sorghum, is it close to that? |
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02/26/2013 05:23:59 AM · #33 |
I am in awe of the effort made by [user]Snaffle[/user] in this regard.
Considering the time, effort, cost of wood and electricity, Raymee will opt for the product made by the fine folks in Quebec.
I like to save my energy for other things. :O)
Ray |
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02/26/2013 11:38:00 AM · #34 |
Originally posted by RayEthier:
I am in awe of the effort made by [user]Snaffle[/user] in this regard.
Considering the time, effort, cost of wood and electricity, Raymee will opt for the product made by the fine folks in Quebec.
I like to save my energy for other things. :O)
Ray |
No shit right?
Although, I do have to say that there's nothing like the 'real' homemade thing, and maple syrup is awesome, personally I like the darker grades.
Speaking of darkness, snaffles, how dark do you go? |
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02/26/2013 12:06:01 PM · #35 |
Originally posted by snaffles:
Yep, but if you've got a lot of birches you might be able to make some syrupy type stuff from them too, Adam...but I have no experience there, only with sugar maples! I have heard of cane syrup but never tried it, what's it taste like? Say in relation to sorghum, is it close to that? |
Susan congrats on the triple post...lol. You have got me at a loss....What is sorhum. I've never heard of it.
Cane syrup (and it could boil down to personal perception) to me it has a sweeter taste than maple syrup. I have nerver heard of using Birch but we do have a few of those along some rivers and bayous. It sounds like you have a great project going.
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02/26/2013 12:13:36 PM · #36 |
Originally posted by RayEthier:
I am in awe of the effort made by [user]Snaffle[/user] in this regard.
Considering the time, effort, cost of wood and electricity, Raymee will opt for the product made by the fine folks in Quebec.
I like to save my energy for other things. :O)
Ray |
Ray, I think this is more of a hobby. I have a feeling that this is something therapudic for susan to do. It is like someone going into the shop and making a birdhouse. Only difference is the syrup tastes better
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02/26/2013 12:16:27 PM · #37 |
Originally posted by cowboy221977:
Originally posted by snaffles:
Yep, but if you've got a lot of birches you might be able to make some syrupy type stuff from them too, Adam...but I have no experience there, only with sugar maples! I have heard of cane syrup but never tried it, what's it taste like? Say in relation to sorghum, is it close to that? |
Susan congrats on the triple post...lol. You have got me at a loss....What is sorhum. I've never heard of it.
Cane syrup (and it could boil down to personal perception) to me it has a sweeter taste than maple syrup. I have nerver heard of using Birch but we do have a few of those along some rivers and bayous. It sounds like you have a great project going. |
You can make birch beer from birch. I did that as a kid, yummy. Sorghum and cane syrup are pretty much the same thing (otherwise known as molasses). |
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02/26/2013 12:19:48 PM · #38 |
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02/26/2013 12:43:52 PM · #39 |
Squeezing Sorghum
Tim |
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02/26/2013 01:26:28 PM · #40 |
Originally posted by cowboy221977:
ok I know mollasses |
The cane syrup I've seen is lighter and sweeter than molasses, more the color of a dark honey. It is an intermediate step in refining cane (or sugar beet) juice into table sugar; it has been cooked down, but not to the point where the sugar starts to crystallize out. When virtually all of the sugar has been extracted you are left with blackstrap molasses.
From the photo it looks like the same process applies to the juice squeezed from sorghum.
A similar product is malt extract (used in beer-making), where malted* barley is roasted, ground, cooked to extract the sugars, and then cooked down to reduce to a thick syrup or to dry crystals.
*Malting is a process where the grain is dampened to start the germination process, then roasted just before it actualy sprouts. The germination process releases enzymes which convert the starches in the grains to sugars, providing food for the yeast used to ferment the beer. |
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02/26/2013 01:29:54 PM · #41 |
Cane syrup is much sweeter than mollasses in my opinion. It is also more runny..(I guess you can say lighter) Blackburns makes a good cane syrup. No southern household can live without it.
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02/26/2013 01:57:41 PM · #42 |
Originally posted by cowboy221977:
Cane syrup is much sweeter than mollasses in my opinion. |
In this case perception is reality! Cane syrup is just the concentrated juice, then once they start to remove the sugar it turns into molasses.
BTW I think pine sap is too resinous to make syrup, but it has been used as a chewing gum, and as a flavoring for various alcoholic concoctions (e.g. Retsina -- a Greek analogue of gin, but flavored with pine instead of juniper berries). |
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02/26/2013 02:20:38 PM · #43 |
| You can make syrup from the sap of almost any deciduous tree. (I'd be cautious about black walnut syrup for example due to the potentially concentrated juglone from the tree.) How that syrup tastes is another matter. Plenty of tree sap is much lower in sugar, if you have a sap with 1% sugar, you'll need 86 gallons of sap for 1 gallon of syrup. |
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02/26/2013 02:59:09 PM · #44 |
Cruelty to trees! How would you like it if a badger nailed a tap into your leg and boiled your blood into some sort of condiment?
;-D
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02/26/2013 03:06:40 PM · #45 |
crap now I'm hungry for grilled badger with syrup on top...Maybe some buiscuts too
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02/26/2013 03:21:02 PM · #46 |
Originally posted by Cory:
Originally posted by RayEthier:
I am in awe of the effort made by [user]Snaffle[/user] in this regard.
Considering the time, effort, cost of wood and electricity, Raymee will opt for the product made by the fine folks in Quebec.
I like to save my energy for other things. :O)
Ray |
No shit right?
Although, I do have to say that there's nothing like the 'real' homemade thing, and maple syrup is awesome, personally I like the darker grades.
Speaking of darkness, snaffles, how dark do you go? |
I do have pics somewhere showing the range I get...my first few batches are a fairly typical amber in colour, but 2 years now I have had consecutive batches that are the colour of honey. Then it gets darker and yes I have produced black syrup - one of my bros is a tremendous fan of the stuff. Very thick and dark, very dense, almost like molasses...but it's not!
Here's what I got last year, no black to speak of  Generally you only get black syrup at the end of the run. Last time I carried black syrup out to BC, that 1 500-ml jar weighed about a whole pound more than other jars the same size with early-or mid-run syrup.
I think this is from last year too...shows the honey-coloured batches 
Message edited by author 2013-02-26 15:24:16. |
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02/26/2013 07:54:23 PM · #47 |
Originally posted by Strikeslip:
Cruelty to trees! How would you like it if a badger nailed a tap into your leg and boiled your blood into some sort of condiment?
;-D |
Uhm I don't know about you, Slippy, but around here we gets these things all summer long called mosquitoes, and they sure as s**t don't limit their tapping to a mere 4-6 weeks of the year!!!
Oh btw according to Mapletrader, anyone who wants to make syrup from birch better be ready for a whole lot of work...you're looking at a ratio of 120/1!!! |
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02/27/2013 08:54:39 AM · #48 |
:-D ... I hate mosquitoes!
IMO, despite all the time & energy it takes to make your own maple syrup, there has also got to be a huge amount of satisfaction, besides the fact that it's so good! Reminds me of the recent maple syrup heist in Canada which made the news. It's liquid gold.
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02/27/2013 09:03:43 AM · #49 |
Originally posted by Strikeslip:
:-D ... I hate mosquitoes!
IMO, despite all the time & energy it takes to make your own maple syrup, there has also got to be a huge amount of satisfaction, besides the fact that it's so good! Reminds me of the recent maple syrup heist in Canada which made the news. It's liquid gold. |
Yeah, but don't you store all of it in the same warehouse or something? - Like 70% of the world's supply of maple syrup is all in one warehouse? - That's what I read somewhere, probably in a tabloid. |
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02/27/2013 09:21:53 AM · #50 |
Originally posted by JH:
[quote=Strikeslip] Yeah, but don't you store all of it in the same warehouse or something? - Like 70% of the world's supply of maple syrup is all in one warehouse? - That's what I read somewhere, probably in a tabloid. |
On the internet. I read it there, so it has to be true. ;-) |
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