Maple Syrup ?

[Torvo]

Anyone out there make your own maple syrup? My son and I have been making our own for the past couple years problem is it just never lasts long enough! :D

[chad 1]

I remember as a kid i use to break a small maple branch when it was cold wait for the ice cycles. just like a candy bar. :D

[bhntr]

I used to make it back when I was in high school with a friend. we would tap with some spiles a uncle gave me and we used 2.5qt icecream pails to catch the sap. at first we boiled it on my friends moms stove but latter we used a big galvanized wash tub on a home made fire arch. it came out looking like used oil but tasted better than anything you could buy in the store. I,ll nver forget gathering th sap in two 5gal. pails and carrying them across the woods sometimes in ankle deep mud. we made 17gal. our first year and charged $14.00 a gal. boy were we getting rich. but it kept two young boys out of trouble and gave me alot of good lessons for the future. bhntr.

[Salmonsmoker]

We use Maple Syrup a lot but have never made it.

I am wondering if anyone has ever used it in any recipe's? The Native Americans used the Maple sap as a liquid in which to cook meat. Maple-glazed Salmon. Will have to experiment with that one. Might work well on Vension Steaks too. Sounds like I need to get some more Maple Syrup.

ss

[henryboy32]

Is there any specific Maples or any maple tree will work? What about any techniques in taking and making the final syrup?

[Tom222]

Henry, there are a number of trees that will give you syrup, but you want to look for the trees that have a high sugar content.
With modern evaporators, you can boil down inferior saps with decent results, like sycamore, and birch. Yellow and black birch have a high sugar content that would make good syrup. They give off a hint of wintergreen flavor.
Hickories and walnuts also give sap but the quality is inferior.
Your best bets are sugar maple, black maple, or Norway maple, with box elder, red maple and silver maple not far behind.
Maple sap is about 2.5% sugar. Birch is about half of that. Some maples have a content of 5%. The highest recorded was 9%.
If you can't find enough maples, don't count out the birch. It may have a low sugar content, but it makes up for it in a copious sap flow.
Plan to spend a lot of time boiling.
Ok, time for an edit. I just re- read what I wrote, and realized what an egghead I sound like,so let me add that I bought the books on how to do all of this, but never had the time.
There are a number of books that will give you the info that you need. If you have a someone in your area that makes syrup, it may be easier to take the sap to them and have them process it for you.
There, I feel better now... "copious"... what an egg head.
Good luck.

[Torvo]

Henry, You can find alot of good info. at http://ohioline.ag.ohio-state.edu/b856/ Good Luck!

[Dutchman]

Warm homemade syrup poured over Schwann's Butter Pecan Ice cream! As close to heaven you can get with out dyin!

[Torvo]

Salmonsmoker, I have used maple syrup on baked Steelhead before I just seasoned the fillets with salt,pepper and lemon pepper, splashed on a bit of liquid smoke then brushed on maple syrup wrapped it in aluminum foil then you can put it in the oven or on the grill. When its done it has a candy like coating on it,I tried it on red meat too but did care for it as much. I might note it still was bad though!

[Moe]

I'm getting ready to go out and collect some sap right now. We normally have about 150- 175 taps out but this year we only have 50 out due to sports that me, my brother and sister are playing. We've only made about 3 gallons so far but we've only been doing it for a week. Henry-
The best trees to tap are the hard maple, because they have the highest sugar content. Here we don't have any so we tap the soft maple which do not have as high but are close. There's nothing like having that fresh maple syrup on ice cream and spending time with the family doing this!

[~bigbucks~]

I just finished my first batch I've ever made. 21/2 pints, WOW that stuff is good. Starting another batch tomorrow for sure.this batch had that vanilla after taste also.

[Willie Tippit]

we have made 2 gals so far this season ..hopefully the sap holds out longer
:)

[jackbob42]

What's the best thing to boil it in and how long does it take?

[Backwoods-Savage]

Boil it in anything that is clean. Takes a long, long time to boil down. The general rule is 40 gallons of sap boils down to 1 gallon of syrup. Now you can imagine from there.

Most will boil in a large container and probably cast iron is the best but few use it. Like the one fellow stated they used a tub. What you do is boil the sap down and as it gets low enough, just keep adding more sap. Depending on the size of your container as to how long or how many gallons you've put in, the stuff gradually turns brown. When you are ready to finish off a batch, just quit adding but watch that fire close. As it gets to the syrup stage it will foam over on you.

Take a cup and dip some when it is about 1/2 way to syrup and drink it good and warm. The best tea anyone has ever tasted.

[Backwoods-Savage]

Warm homemade syrup poured over Schwann's Butter Pecan Ice cream! As close to heaven you can get with out dyin!

Yummy! But I still prefer it over plain old vanilla.

[Frantz]

I am not doing it this year, but I use a very large enamel roasting pan, the same one i use for Turkey. I fill it up and toss it on the grill with the lid down and let it go, adding to it from time to time. I usually collect from a couple 5 gal buckets and spend a whole saturday working on it, maybe 20 hours and then I filter it through a couple layers of cheese cloth. Temp is very important in the final stages and i usually move that stage into the house in a bery large and cheap stew pot I got from wally world, same one I use for beer.

Back in the day when the neighbors had a business doing it, we used to boil eggs and hotdogs in the tanks, man that was good eats!

[Willie Tippit]

Well the sap is cloudy now and i think were done for the year..we did manage about 3 and a half gallons.a far cry from last year...thats michigan ...lol

[Hamilton Reef]

Warm winter was 'nightmare' for Mason maple syrup makers
Weather produces bad sap; business curtails production

MASON - Calling it the "worst season in his lifetime," Ralph Snow of Snow's Sugarbush has stopped maple syrup production more than two weeks earlier than planned.

Snow has been in the business for almost 48 years, and he represents the fourth in a five-generation family tradition of making the sweet stuff.

He said area producers he's talked to thus far agree this year has been a "nightmare."

http://www.lsj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070401/NEWS01/704010703/1001/news

[frenchriver1]

A bit on an evening news show reported that it is likely this trend toward "bad" harvests will continue for some time, until there is very little maple syrup producing area left in the US, if any. The proper climatological zone will have moved father north, where of course the Canadian are not prepared for it, with the increase in warming in global weather...