The sap's running! Yay!! :-) - DPChallenge Forums

02/27/2013 09:48:10 AM · #51

In all honesty I don't know....but maybe I'll go to Mapletrader and start a Fact or Fiction thread and see what shakes out :-) Lots of nice very knowledgeable folks on there.

So far have collected about 2.5 gallons and evaporated down about 2/3 of the first 2 gallons overnight with Soon, my woodstove doing all the work. Just collected, filtered and added another 1/2 gallon this morning to the evaporator (aka hotel pan).

02/27/2013 09:51:36 AM · #52

Originally posted by snaffles:

So far have collected about 2.5 gallons and evaporated down about 2/3 of the first 2 gallons overnight with Soon, my woodstove doing all the work. Just collected, filtered and added another 1/2 gallon this morning to the evaporator (aka hotel pan).

What does the steam smell like? Maple syrupy, or something else?

02/27/2013 10:15:27 AM · #53

Originally posted by JH:

Originally posted by snaffles:
So far have collected about 2.5 gallons and evaporated down about 2/3 of the first 2 gallons overnight with Soon, my woodstove doing all the work. Just collected, filtered and added another 1/2 gallon this morning to the evaporator (aka hotel pan).

What does the steam smell like? Maple syrupy, or something else?

Sap is approx 98% water so when it's simply evaporating, it usually smells of nothing. But when actually boiling it down it smells a bit yeasty. It only smells syrupy in the final stages, as you have to condense it down to that stage.

Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS

02/27/2013 10:39:18 AM · #54

Originally posted by snaffles:

Originally posted by JH:
What does the steam smell like? Maple syrupy, or something else?

Sap is approx 98% water so when it's simply evaporating, it usually smells of nothing. But when actually boiling it down it smells a bit yeasty. It only smells syrupy in the final stages, as you have to condense it down to that stage.

Interesting. I never realised what was involved in the production before this thread. Sounds a bit like making moonshine, especially if you have a wood stove and a shack in the woods.

Take more photos! - Like, let's see what the pots look like, and what the stuff inside them is like when it's reducing. We don't have much syrup production here in Ireland! lol

Strikeslip

Canon EOS-5D

02/27/2013 11:28:31 AM · #55

Sap inspector #3456

02/27/2013 06:24:59 PM · #56

Originally posted by JH:

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.

... but do take solace that the heist was recovered and that the culprits will (or have) appeared in court.

I heard that they got a "sweet deal". :O)

Ray

02/27/2013 06:31:29 PM · #57

Originally posted by JH:

... Sounds a bit like making moonshine, especially if you have a wood stove and a shack in the woods.

... Ah yes, how well I remember all those people I arrested whilst in the police force, poor souls... had I known they were making maple syrup I could have cut them some slack. :O)

Ray

02/27/2013 07:37:20 PM · #58

Interesting...apparently in PQ (aka Quebec to those outside Canada) 75-78% of the world's syrup IS controlled by an OPEC-style consortium with quotas etc. Oh yay. And it is stored in ginormous warehouses, they had to build a 3rd one to accomodate the huge crop from 2011.

Wow. Just think, Uncle Raymee a whole bunch of Joe Gatineaus control the vast majority of sirop d'erable!!!

Except mine, of course...I don't belong to no stinking consortium with quotas etc and never will!

Message edited by author 2013-02-27 19:40:51.

bob350

Sony Alpha 1

Sony FE 24-70mm f/2.8 GM

02/27/2013 08:20:38 PM · #59

No syrup cartels visible in Vermont, but very good maple products here. During weekends in March, local sugar shacks provide "sugar on snow" as a traditional Vermont seasonal treat. This is warm maple syrup drizzled on fresh snow or shaved ice, usually served along with a warm plain doughnut and a dill pickle. Odd but good. Last year winter was too warm, so the maple farms only got a few days of sap flow. This year is shaping up to be much better.

Think carefully about ventillation if considering making syrup at home. A co-worker tried boiling down maple sap into syrup in his kitchen some years ago. The vast quantities of steam caused all their wallpaper to peel off the walls. Unexpectedly expensive syrup for him that season.

02/27/2013 08:32:55 PM · #60

Originally posted by snaffles:

At the rate you're going you'll control the other 22%.

02/28/2013 06:18:01 AM · #61

Originally posted by bob350:

Think carefully about ventillation if considering making syrup at home. A co-worker tried boiling down maple sap into syrup in his kitchen some years ago. The vast quantities of steam caused all their wallpaper to peel off the walls. Unexpectedly expensive syrup for him that season.

Maybe I should boil maple sap... I have borders in the bathrooms that must have been glue on because nothing I tried got them off. I ended up repainting all the bathroom and purchasing a wider border to cover the previous one.

Getting back to maple syrup, I brought some with me during my last trip to Australia and seems it was quite the hit... so much so that I have been asked to ship some over.

Ray

Message edited by author 2013-02-28 06:18:11.

02/28/2013 06:42:45 AM · #62

Originally posted by RayEthier:

Getting back to maple syrup, I brought some with me during my last trip to Australia and seems it was quite the hit... so much so that I have been asked to ship some over.

Surprised you managed to get through the airport. Security here usually classify foodstuffs up there with rocket launchers and grenades.

02/28/2013 07:36:43 AM · #63

Originally posted by bob350:

Yep this promises to be a very good year, had the perfect winter for it. Taffy on snow is an ol fave though I don't remember any dillpickles...regional VT specialty mebbe?

LOL thanks for the warning re boiling in the kitchen, but I've done it since 2008 with no problems. Partly cause I don't have wallpaper. I also live in a former one-room schoolhouse with those gigantic windows in it, so I open them when it really gets going. And thanks to the heat from my woodstove my humidity level actually drops from approx 65% normally to 35% when I'm in full swing.

02/28/2013 07:38:58 AM · #64

Originally posted by JH:

Originally posted by RayEthier:
Getting back to maple syrup, I brought some with me during my last trip to Australia and seems it was quite the hit... so much so that I have been asked to ship some over.

Surprised you managed to get through the airport. Security here usually classify foodstuffs up there with rocket launchers and grenades.

Yeah...have had no problem shipping my homemade to the continental US though sometimes it's slow reaching its destination. Couldn't send it abroad though, go with commercial stuff for that as it's been pasteurized up the wazoo.