Maple Syrup Revisited

So, we finished our very first Maple Syrup harvest and it was...successful! I was shocked at how simple it was. Really, if you follow directions and have the time, it turns out wonderful. We gathered the sap from the trees every day while the temps were below freezing at night and above freezing during the day. On good days, we got at least 11 gallons of sap. Once the nights went above freezing, the trees stopped running their sap. But, that was okay...we were getting tired of lugging 60 pound buckets of sap around! Albert rigged his own cinderblock evaporator with an old stovepipe. We searched and found some used restaurant grade pans on Craigslist for a few dollars a piece and we gathered a pickup load of old branches from the woods. We were in business. Albert stayed with his boiling sap every Saturday and Sunday, bless his heart. He has some good stick-to-itive-ness for a 12 year old. He came in pretty darn tired most evenings.

When all was said and done, we have well over 2 gallons of pure maple syrup from our first season. Not bad for 7 trees!

I have posted pictures above that show the sap evaporating and cooking. Enjoy looking!