Sunday, March 01, 2009

Unbelievable!!!


Due to tapping all our maple trees, sugar and otherwise, we generally get a gallon of syrup for every 55 - 60 gallons of sap. Yesterday's boil consumed 40 gallons, and when we transferred the "half sap" from the big pan to the finishing pan the color was quite light. I was nervous. (Nervous and anxious should be my new middle names.) We had had a lot of rain. Yes the buckets are covered, but still I wondered, "Am I looking at sugary rain water?

No, I wasn't. The yield is a cup over three quarts. And it is straw yellow. The flavor is light and out of this world.

"There is gold in them there trees!"

3 comments:

Yukon said...

Good for you. How many taps do you have? I have noticed my trees produce only a moderate amount of sap. For some, I'm sure it's because they don't see much sun. Is age a factor?

P.H. said...

We have only 12 taps in, so far, this year. The remaining (3)taps would be on our neighbors property and their backyard is a skating rink. I didn't want to risk my neck over buckets of sap.

We use the following rules of thumb for tapping:

1. Tree 11 inches in diameter, about 40 years old.

2. Tap over a big root. As my daughter says, "You need to get it in the vein."

3.Tap in full sunlight, (on the warmer side of the tree). Still, this year I put some taps on the colder side, to see if I could prolong the season.

4. For us, tree age only factors into how many buckets we hang off a tree. The older the tree, the bigger the diameter, the more buckets can be hung. Not having any old timers, we only hang two buckets per tree.

GOOD LUCK! I'll be following your successes via your blog.

Anonymous said...

what all of the honey? I like honey so much.