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Saw steam coming out of a local sugar house today ......here comes the GOODNESS!!!
...... at paris farmers union. a big maple can take 2-3 taps and really big maples (23"+) can take 4
I use an outside gas cooker w/3gal. pot. I start w/10gals. and end up with a quart of syrup. I keep adding sap until it is a couple inches from the bottom then I bring it inside on the stove put it in a telflon frypan and boil it down till it starts to bubble up and foam. I think someone mentioned a candy thermometer, I just keep a CLOSE eye on it. I do a 10 gal batch at a time instead of adding all the time. First thing my boy does when he gets off the bus is collect the sap he loves doing it, that and clamming......
what do you tap in new york? Oak trees.
Sap has been slow here, hopefully well start flowing faster after maple sunday. Have about 300 taps in sofar ,300 more to go. Hope to fire up the larger evaporator this weekend if Ihave sap enough. I also have some 7/ 16 taps I would give to a hobbyist to help him get started. I am a hobbyist gone wild in this hobby.
Sap seems to be running good in New Gloucester! I have 12-2gallon pails out and they all have been full most days this week. They are all on a southerly exposed hill on the south side of the tree I think this makes a difference. I have a 30 gallon evaporator pan and use 2 propane Turkey burrners to boil it down, when it gets to be about 1/2 ince left in pan I drain it and finish it off inside on the electric stove. The surup gets stored in 1pt mason jars.
Well we completed our first batch of syrup this weekend. Ended up with about 1 1/2 pints for 8 gal. of sap so figured about right. Candy thermometer was a great hel pas aposed to just "eyeballing". Came out awesome but took forever to do in a lobster pot Does anybody know where a can get a reg. boiling pan in the central Maine area? (SS big surface, shallow pan) Thanks. Maybe one of those dishes like they serve food out of in a buffet?
Mardens has just what your looking for (at least up here) were about 20 bucks up here wide and about 6-8" high about 18" wide or so
Thanks Hazzy - went to Marden's in WTVL, had nothing that would work.... drive one down for me
can ya wait till the 12th??
Gamefisher, Where are you boiling it? On you kitchen stove? When my grandfather used to do it, he had a local metal shop weld him like a 2'x3' square pan out of sheetmetal. He used it on a barrel woodstove that had the top cut off and a base made for the pan to set on, but I don't see why something like that wouldn't work with all 4 burners on. This was about 7 years ago now and I believe it cost him like $40. If you do it enough it may be worth the investment.
Brought this back up - its getting close! (hopefully ) much better prepared this year, more taps, more trees, and a better pan. Built an evaporator out of an old Ashley woodstove to get away from the propane cost. Can't wait!Anybody else getting the "fever" 8)
Getting close? Now is the time!!!!. Warm days, cool nights big snow pack......Start tapping!!!
YUMMMY!! Pour me some Dark Amber