Sunday, March 27, 2011

An Experiment

Yesterday's post on the color and flavor of maple syrup got me thinking and wondering. Is it really the sap or it's storage that effects the color? Of course I had my hypothesis, and the information sited by Cornell and UVM, but could we somehow experiment to see it for ourselves?

So we collected the sap, keeping it icy cold, and boiled it within 8 hours. Only 15 gallons; so there was very little yield. The results were the amber "short" quart on the left. On the right is the darker more robust syrup from Thursday's boil. Both batches of syrup were in the pan for 6 hours. Neither batch burned. The main difference was we collected the sap over 4 days for the batch on the right, and on the left -- 8 hours. Of course, it is not wise to draw a conclusion from one run.

Check out the maple salts that have precipitated in each jar. Amazing.

Seasonal yield: 3.25 gallons
Where are the pancakes?

3 comments:

jeff noel said...

Enjoy reading your posts each day. Glad the ride pushed the limits, as we pray the researchers will push the limits for a brain cancer cure.

Anonymous said...

I have a great pancake recipe if you need it! Used the last of my birthday syrup on them just last week!

P.H. said...

Trade you; more syrup for the recipe. ;-)