For maple syrup aficionoadoes...

04/28/2015 11:46:51 PM · #1

Originally posted by snaffles:

Just fwiw, glad I don't live in PQ...

Maple syrup rebellion

Vive Quebec libre!

WOW! Thank you for sharing that story Susan.

04/28/2015 04:08:10 PM · #2

Just fwiw, glad I don't live in PQ...

Maple syrup rebellion

Vive Quebec libre!

Message edited by author 2015-04-28 16:08:26.

sfalice

Canon PowerShot SX60 HS

04/20/2015 06:33:41 PM · #3

Originally posted by GeneralE:

Vermont's Largest Tree-Tapper Won't Sell Syrup

I'll try to get to the farmer's market and find some local olive oil ...

Oh, yes, if Paul can find you some local olive oil, you both will be winners in the tasting department.

Canon 12x IS USM (S3 IS built-in Lens) -- 36-432mm (35mm EQ)

04/20/2015 02:52:21 PM · #4

Vermont's Largest Tree-Tapper Won't Sell Syrup

I'll try to get to the farmer's market and find some local olive oil ...

04/20/2015 10:27:42 AM · #5

Originally posted by GeneralE:

Originally posted by snaffles:
If only I could find some kind of way to be involved with sugaring all year-round, I'd have it made.

You could spend the Fall and Winter in Hawaii or the Caribbean working with cane juice, or learn how to malt barley and work with a high-end boutique brewery ...

And whatever makes you think we don't care? What would you like from California in exchange for 1/4L (or maybe 1/2L if I can afford it and you can spare it) of the precious fluid?

Hey Paul...sadly I have a house and business to take care of so just packing up and leaving for Caribbean not an option...microbreweries however are plentiful in Ontario.

As for nummies from California, well, what do you have that I don't? What regional nummies do you have? I have received home-baked goods, chocolates from See's, wines from Husch winery (careful though sending booze as hassles at border) and all manner of canned preserves. I can send you 500ml, I need to figure out how much from each batch to set aside for clients, family etc.

Canon 12x IS USM (S3 IS built-in Lens) -- 36-432mm (35mm EQ)

04/19/2015 08:08:24 PM · #6

Originally posted by snaffles:

If only I could find some kind of way to be involved with sugaring all year-round, I'd have it made.

You could spend the Fall and Winter in Hawaii or the Caribbean working with cane juice, or learn how to malt barley and work with a high-end boutique brewery ...

And whatever makes you think we don't care? What would you like from California in exchange for 1/4L (or maybe 1/2L if I can afford it and you can spare it) of the precious fluid?

04/19/2015 07:42:29 PM · #7

Not that anyone here gives a sweet flying f***...I strongly suspect that I am considered long gone and forgotten by now, just another washup and someone else for everyone else here to kick to the curb.

But this year I collected record amount of 424l sap and made 21l syrup.

Oh did I mention, this is from only 6 trees?! And my best tree, though I pulled taps 4 days ago, is defying all the so-called rules and still producing beautifully clean, clear, sweet sap? Sadly, it isn't being collected and made into magic...I am sorely tempted to re-insert the taps and pails but am afraid of causing long-term harm if I do. So Super Sap Machine #6 is weeping.

If only I could find some kind of way to be involved with sugaring all year-round, I'd have it made.

Then I could sell all my camera gear and have a truly fulfilling way to waste the time I have left.

04/14/2015 08:03:22 PM · #8

Hah, there's all kinds of maple goodie recipes on MapleTrader.com, Tracey. Also LCBO.com, go there and google maple drinks, stuff like mapletinis on there if you're so inclined (me, I just like The Midnight Boil favourite of whiskey and hot maple syrup...*hic*...;-D
There may well be a recipe for a maple-washed cheese, you never know. Hey what's that maple fizz recipe again?

Still boiling away cause trees still producing nice clear sap....and I think I've broken last year's record of 407l sap/19l syrup. Not sure yet. I haven't cooked a single damn thing in my kitchen for the last 2 weeks or so cause too busy with nearup and syrup! Argh!

Must. Pull. Spiles. Soon.

Enlightened

04/13/2015 06:45:12 PM · #9

Originally posted by snaffles:

Well as tends to happen, my trees are making a liar of me, have given me another 20l since my last post!

Haven't really tried to detect flavours too much, Tracey. Just so damn busy boiling all this stuff down that the last thing I want to do after making a batch, is to try it! :-)

The trees have a knack of changing!!! You'll have to sit down and have tasting when the boiling and work is done! Our sugarbush closed today. It produced 120gallons or about 560L. I am trying to convince the powers that be to make a maple cheddar cheese! No luck yet!

04/13/2015 08:12:14 AM · #10

Heh, I don't need to try it...I know it's good and I do get a taste as I wash out pots after making a btach. Besides as with tasting anything properly you want a nice clean palate and samples lined up ready to try.

04/12/2015 11:01:00 PM · #11

Originally posted by snaffles:

You're supposed to try during batch making.

04/12/2015 06:44:58 PM · #12

Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 USM

04/12/2015 12:45:14 AM · #13

Originally posted by RayEthier:

I keep reading about running SAP and keep thinking that you folks are talking about my working environment.

Ray

For the record, SAP is not pronounced "sap". Each letter is actually said individually. It's something that SAP has been pretty adamant about from my understanding.

Edit to add: *snort*

Message edited by author 2015-04-12 00:45:42.

RayEthier

Canon EOS-5D Mark II

04/11/2015 06:45:59 PM · #14

I keep reading about running SAP and keep thinking that you folks are talking about my working environment.

Ray

04/11/2015 02:06:22 PM · #15

All sapped out now, Trace. Didn't collect more than last year cause the run's a lot shorter this year. Probably pulling spiles tomorrow. Still have around 100l to make into syrup.

Enlightened

Canon EF 17-40mm f/4L USM

04/10/2015 10:02:00 PM · #16

How is the sap running Susan? It is crazy here. The biggest run in a few years. Any different flavours yet?

kawesttex

Apple iPhone 11 Pro

03/23/2015 09:32:33 PM · #17

Originally posted by snaffles:

Which is why the hobbysists like me start small, and mostly stay small, to fill only our own needs and maybe a few others. And for the fun of it.

I don't think you will find our honey in a little bear in the store either! We are starting with 2 hives and going to expand from there for the same reasons, to maintain quality over quantity.

03/23/2015 08:33:02 PM · #18

Originally posted by GeneralE:

I think cane juice is processed pretty much the same way as maple sap, just (these days, anyway) only on an industrial scale. You can get straight cane syrup, which is thinner and retains more of the sugar than molasses. I think the main difference is that the cane juice starts out with a much higher sugar content, and it may crystalize out of the solution more readily.

Cool, I always thought that with cane sugar, it was just cut and pressed, a la sorghum. I don't really know much about other sugars and methods of extraction apart from maples, which has always been the same, though different methods were used to boil it off. Apparently the Native Americans collected sap in birch buckets, then dumped the sap into a hollowed-out log, into which they added hot rocks from the fire to boil off the water.

Nowadays the big guys (like 10s of 1000s of taps) collect by vacuuming sap out of the trees, process it via reverse osmosis, and boil off the concentrated sap in gigantic vats. All very industrial, all very The Sugar Season (about the Bascom family in NH) where they make arrangements to buy, say, 7000 gallons of Vermont syrup to toss in with the rest of their syrup and sell to Wal-Mart or whomever *Gold Coast* is.

Which is why the hobbysists like me start small, and mostly stay small, to fill only our own needs and maybe a few others. And for the fun of it.

Message edited by author 2015-03-23 20:34:34.

03/23/2015 08:26:05 PM · #19

Originally posted by GeneralE:

Originally posted by snaffles:
Well, the run this March has been more stop-and-go than a teenager learning to drive standard...

THIS made me laugh ...

I flashed back to when I was 15 and my mom said "more gas" and I lurched into the lawn with my brother and his friend standing there, laughing. To this day I have no idea why she said more gas! So, that comment did not make me laugh, because it was too close to the truth for me. :P

Canon 12x IS USM (S3 IS built-in Lens) -- 36-432mm (35mm EQ)

03/23/2015 08:03:44 PM · #20

03/23/2015 07:46:19 PM · #21

Originally posted by GeneralE:

Originally posted by snaffles:
Well, the run this March has been more stop-and-go than a teenager learning to drive standard...

THIS made me laugh ... and your bumper sticker probably reads:
Maple Sugar Makers
never die ...
they just evaporate

Yep, I'm pretty sure it does too! :-) Though maybe without the 'Maple' part at the beginning, I don't think cane sugar people use evaporation techniques :-)

Canon 12x IS USM (S3 IS built-in Lens) -- 36-432mm (35mm EQ)

03/23/2015 07:29:04 PM · #22

Originally posted by snaffles:

Well, the run this March has been more stop-and-go than a teenager learning to drive standard...

THIS made me laugh ... and your bumper sticker probably reads:

Maple Sugar Makers

   never die ...

they just evaporate

03/23/2015 07:00:31 PM · #23

double post

Message edited by author 2015-03-23 19:01:34.

03/23/2015 07:00:18 PM · #24

Ok here we go...across the road from me is an old Xmas tree farm where the owner also sugared...and sugared so much that this ol' baby is still over there....a Grimm evaporator that, I've been told, can handle sap at the rate of 400 GPH.

To give an idea as the size of this thing, those pans laying across the top of it are all at least 6ft long.

And for fun...can you figure out what the rest of this old bumper sticker says?

Message edited by author 2015-03-23 20:25:29.