TJ, there is nothing added...no ingredient other than maple sap. And the finished syrup is sweeter than the artificial stuff, a little thinner,(unless you keep it in the fridge), and has a strong maple flavor.
I have no doubt it would keep if canned properly. We bottled ours at 185 degrees, flipped the jars over to sterilize the lid and neck, then set them upright. They formed a vacuum and pulled the lids down just fine, although ours will be eaten shortly...as in next weekend.
I did tap sugar maples, although any of the maple varieties around here will make good syrup, and the commercial operators do not discriminate, they tap em' all. My father helped out at a large Amish family who were making syrup last weekend, and they were processing 3200 gallons of sap that day, of all maple varieties.
The stoves were a last minute idea, born of desperation. Since our property was once a campground, there are dozens of these rims laying around. I didn't even weld the two rims together, just stacked them up. I cut out a section of rim on the bandsaw, then removed the top and bottom flanges from the cut-out section, and welded those back into the rims, leaving a curved, rectangular opening. I welded a hinge on the removed section, and once fit back into the rim I welded the hinge to the rim also. Instant door. I used a U-bolt as a handle, and made a tool that hooked into the U-bolt so I could open and close it without getting burned.
In the back of the rim there is a slot where the valve stem protruded. I laid out half circles on each side of the slot, cut them out, and had a 4" round hole for an elbow and stovepipe. They worked great if I do say so myself.
Liquidsquid I hear you on tossing out the ice...a definite drawback to using milk jugs as collection devices!
