We've been waiting for a couple weeks for the maple sap to run, and it is finally doing so! We think the ground froze deep this winter because of no snow cover, and it has taken a while for the ground to thaw enough for the sap to run. Tonight we collected about 70 gallons of sap - enough for about 10 pints or so of finished syrup. There is a 40 to 1 ratio (40 gal of sap to 1 gal of syrup) for finished product, or somewhere thereabouts. So, for one day we have about $100 worth of syrup (10 bucks a pint) . The sap should run a lot better now, and we should be able to boil sap for several days. And collect a lot more than 70 gallons of sap in a day!
It took the two of us about 2 hours to empty sap bags into a large barrel which we hauled with a tractor. Harold built a support shelf for the 55 gal drum we are using to haul sap in. We are using our Cub Lo-Boy tractor to drive through the woods and the paths. Of course, the farm cats "helped" us. They had a ball running through the woods with us, climbing trees and chasing each other. Many of them sat in the tractor waiting for us, exploring all the knobs and the seat and running boards. Some of them watched as I poured sap from the bags into a bucket, getting their nose right in the way. And there was always a straggler meowing his head off because he was lost way behind.
We will gather more sap tomorrow and every night until it quits running. We have a 250 gal holding tank, a stainless steel bulk tank. We keep it tarped to keep dirt and rain out. Making maple syrup is definitely a job, but SO worth it! But next time you see a pint of maple syrup in the stores selling for 10 dollars a bottle and you think that's too high, remember all the work that somebody had to do to make that! Hauling sap is but the first part of the process. Next is boiling, feeding the wood fire (you have to have a lot of firewood already cut!), finishing the syrup inside to a certain temperature and density, filtering the hot product, and putting the syrup into sterilized jars and canning it.
Anyone want to come up here and help us????
1 comment:
I would love to come and help if I could If we lived closer..I'd have jerome do all the hard work..would be good for him lol. i hope you guys get a lot of sap this year..don't work too hard..lol. the whole process sounds so interesting. Kitties are hilarious.
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