Maple Syrup - Part 3

Can you all stand one more article about maple syrup?  Today we worked very hard on it.  We finished some syrup and canned it, we boiled all day long, we collected MORE sap, and we had several guests drop by to watch the process, chat a while, help out, and taste some of the syrup - AND get a free sample!  It was a beautiful day.  There won't be many more sap running days, as tonight will probably be the last night of freezing for about a week.   If the night temps do not freeze, then the sap doesn't run very well.  Temps of at least 65 or more are predicted for the next 4 or 5 days, and there is a very real chance of the maple trees budding out in the warmth.  If that happens, sap season is over because "buddy sap" is horrible and bitter.
     We collect the sap in big buckets, and then carry them to a large 55 gal food grade drum that we have on the back of our small tractor.  Then we transfer the sap to a stainless steel bulk tank for holding.

Pouring sap into the bulk tank (2013 photo)

Here is a sap bag nearly full.  Our tractor is in the background. We use it to drive around in the woods.

Here is a close up of our evaporator:

There are 7 sections in the evaporator, and the sap gradually goes through a small hole in each section to the last, where it becomes "near syrup".  The fire is hottest in the front section.

When the near syrup is ready, we open a gate to let the hot syrup out into a large stainless steel pan, to be finished inside for the last few degrees. 

I bring the syrup to 218 deg.  This photo shows it is 214.3 deg and boiling away !

When the syrup reaches the right temp for finishing, we filter the syrup through a wool (or sometimes an orlon) filter and pre-filter insert to clear away sediment (minerals in the syrup).

We support the filter bag on a couple of broom handle sticks. 

Hot syrup draining through the wool filter.

Meanwhile, while I am working in the kitchen with the near syrup, Harold is outside boiling more sap, and keeping the wood fire going.  It takes a lot of wood to boil all the sap.

I told Harold to "pose" - he should have had a log in his hand, right??

And here are some of the finished jars:

Whew!  What a project!  I have more jars, but these are just a few I did today.   The syrup this year is really yummy!

I'm showing this photo just to show off one of my Dutch tablecloths!

And so this is the whole process of gathering, boiling, filtering and canning.   Tomorrow I will be finishing off 5 gallons of "near syrup", and Harold will be boiling outside, and we will both collect whatever sap runs in the tree bags.   Another full day of work ahead...........Yes, it's a lot of work, but SO worth the effort!   AND - it comes from our own back yard!