As of tonight, my bucket list is a tad lighter. Ive always wanted to try my hand at making maple syrup, and decided that now was the time. I intended to experiment on a small scale, just to see if it was something I enjoyed, before committing to a larger endeavour.
To that end, I tapped four maple trees last Sunday. Every night after work, the boys and I would make the rounds and collect the sap, combining it and storing it in two refrigerators. We ended up with almost 10 gallons of sap, which is comprised of around 98% water, dependent upon the sugar concentration from tree to tree.
I figured that amount of sap might yield a quart of finished syrup, and early this morning I set in to find out. I lit both fires in my homemade stoves at 8:00am...it was 13 degrees...my breakfast tea froze in the cup after just 45 minutes. Not that I had time to drink it anyway, at least at first. After six hours cooking time, I had approx 1/2 gallon of reduction left, which I took to the house to finish on the stove....better heat control that way. The finished product, Pure Maple syrup, came out to be 34 ozs.
Collecting the sap.
Five gallons of sap, 1/2 the total amount to be reduced.
The view wasn't bad...our pond #3, starting to boil.
My threw together stoves...semi truck rims stacked together, with a door and stovepipe added.
Now we're cookin'...
It was a family effort at times..
Starting to show some color.
And the finished product. Since we're not storing it, we just repurposed some jars...pancake breakfast for a few folks next Sunday morning....
It was an amazing day. We enjoyed every minute of it, and the syrup itself, while delicious, pales in comparison to the satisfaction gained from a day spent tending the fires and skimming the pans. I feel truly content, and very fortunate to have experienced this.
Next year....look out. It's on big time.
