It appears that our maple sap season is kaput. It wasn't the best. The daytime temperatures kept fluctuating, so that the sap didn't really run that well. Last week we pulled our taps and buckets. The buds started coming out on the trees,and the sap (what little there was) was yellow colored-which means it's time to call the season over,at least,until next Fall. However, we did get one more small batch,which netted us about a quart of syrup.
Above you can see our little (and I do mean little) set up.We purchased a larger propane tank (which we can use for BBQ and for the propane heater in the garage-yes,it costs a bit,but winds up being cheaper in the long run than constantly refilling the smaller tanks).This is the opening in our garage,and outside you can also see a juice barrel that we got for free to use for a rain barrel this year. Needless to say,we haven't done our annual garage cleaning yet.
We strained the sap before we started boiling-cheesecloth,a strainer,and another sap gathering bucket. Once it was boiled down,we re-strained it in the house into Mason jars. The batch before this one was boiled down a bit too much....so we bought maple leaf candy molds and made candy.The taste as not quite as sweet as the candy one would buy in the store-it had a more mild flavor,but delicious nonetheless!!
One cannot be rushed when making maple syrup. Our cook down time averages about 7 hours.
We begin our seed starting this week. So a new adventure begins!!!!
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