Making Your Own Maple Syrup: Part 2 - From Sap To Syrup

Last week we wrote about tapping our trees to make our own maple syrup. This week we wanted to share our process for turning the sap into syrup!

Supplies
Outdoor burner or fryer with thermometer
Propane tank
5-gallon bucket of sap
Fine mesh sieve/strainer
1 quart measuring cup
Pot for finishing syrup inside
Cheesecloth or coffee filters
Bottle(s) for finished syrup

Process
1) Gather your supplies.
Place your bucket of sap where it is easily accessible. Light your outdoor burner and get it going. Grab your strainer and measuring cup for transferring the sap from the bucket to the pot to boil and keep them handy.

2) Begin boiling down the sap.
Start with 1 quart of sap (it's best to keep the sap shallow in the pan so it boils and evaporates quicker). Pour the sap through the strainer into the pot on the burner. Bring it up to a rolling boil and maintain the heat. While the first batch is boiling away, pour another quart of sap and get it hot (we just used the microwave) so it doesn't bring the temperature down too much when you add it in.

In just a short amount of time, you will notice a lot of the water evaporating. When the sap level has reduced quite a bit, add in another quart. We let one batch go for about 20 minutes before putting in another quart.

Follow this process until you have used all of the sap. We were putting in 1 quart every 20 minutes, and it took us nearly 5 hours to boil down 5 gallons of sap!

3) Finish the syrup. 
After all of your sap has been boiled down to about a quart remaining (basically the same level you started out with), you can finish it off indoors. Nearly all of the water has been evaporated off at this point so you won't make a sticky mess of your kitchen. Before you get started indoors, run the sap through a filter once again to make sure there is nothing in the sap you don't want in there. You will notice that having been boiled down quite a bit, the sap has turned from clear to a lovely amber color. It really starts to look like syrup! But it's not there just yet.

Finished syrup boils at 7.1 degrees above the boiling temperature of water, so you need to bring it up to the right temperature for it to be transformed into syrup (the boiling point of water is usually 212 degrees, but it can vary depending on your weather and altitude so test your thermometer with some rapidly boiling water to see where it registers). If you plan to store the syrup for a while before using, at this point you can pour it into a mason jar then turn the jar upside down and the heat from the syrup will seal the lid. Otherwise, let the syrup cool to room temperature then place in the refrigerator.

And there you have it! Your very own handmade maple syrup. If you've never had fresh, homemade maple syrup, let me tell you - it is out of this world delicious! It doesn't taste like any syrup I've had before. It is more like liquid candy! We did notice that our syrup is a little bit thinner than what we're normally used to, but that didn't bother us too much because the taste more than made up for the consistency.

After 5 hours of babysitting the sap we were pooped! We had more sap to go, but were honestly getting tired of the process. We were wondering if there was anything else we could do with the sap other than going through the whole process to make finished syrup. David got creative and put some sap on to boil for a few minutes just to sort of sanitize it, then put it in a cup with a tea bag and made some tea! It was pretty good, but needed a bit more sweetness for our taste buds, so we added a little honey and it was perfect.

All in all, we are very happy that we did this ourselves and learned firsthand how maple syrup is made. We definitely have a much deeper appreciation for it now! That being said, I don't know if we'll continue to make our own syrup in the future. We both agreed that it was A LOT of work for such a small amount of syrup (the ratio of sap to syrup is a staggering 40:1 after all) and we didn't really feel that it was the best use of our time. We don't use maple syrup all that much, so to be quite honest I'd rather shell out $7 for a bottle of pure maple syrup at the store than going through the long process of making our own (and spending much more than $7!). I know that's not very homesteady of me, but that's the truth. We are still learning which activities interest us and are good uses of our time and money, and for us, maple syrup just isn't one of them.

I would recommend that everyone try this at least once and see how much work it is for yourself. It is neat to see the process and have an understanding of all that goes into a tiny bottle of syrup. Who knows, maybe you'll love it and find a new passion! But for us, I think one time was enough.

~Tammy

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Pioneer Women

For about a year now, some of my family has been meeting up monthly to try out different crafts and do-it-yourself projects centered on homesteading and self-sufficiency. We call ourselves the "pioneer women" and our group has made all sorts of homemade items like soap, candles, and cheese, and we've also gone on fun outings to local fairs, wineries, and museums. This weekend we met up at my place to try our hand at homemade cough drops and potpourri simmer pots.

We experimented with a couple different cough drop recipes, and everyone agreed that this one was the clear winner. All we did was brew some strong herbal tea, then add sugar at a 1:1 ratio and boil until the mixture reaches 300 degrees. We used powdered sugar with shallow indentations in a cake pan to act as molds for the drops and once the mixture reached the appropriate temperature, we simply poured it (very carefully!) into the prepared "mold."

We let the drops set until hard, then rolled them around in the powdered sugar to finish them off. These are actually really tasty and good whether you have a cough or not!

Next we assembled the potpourri. For one batch, mix 1/2 cup fresh cranberries, 3 cinnamon sticks, 1 T whole cloves, 1/2 T nutmeg, and one whole orange. Place the ingredients in a sauce pan with enough water to cover. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low to maintain a simmer. Keep adding water as it evaporates to make the potpourri last as long as you like. The lovely scent will fill your home and make it feel so cozy.

We always have to get a group shot at the end with some of our spoils. Everyone has a fun time catching up while learning new skills and figuring out which projects we'd like to tackle next time.

Can't wait til the next one in February. We have some great things lined up for the next few months!

~Tammy

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Feathered Friend Friday

Last weekend I witnessed one of the funniest, sweetest, most heartfelt things I have ever seen. One of our original hens, Jobin, has come off of her molt and has lots of new, beautiful, fluffy feathers. Last week I noticed her comb had turned from a dull, pale color to a bright waxy pink, so I wondered if she would start laying again soon.

On Sunday I let everyone out of the coop and spent some time with them since I don't get to see them much during the week. I noticed Jobin was being very chatty and running to and from nesting boxes. I watched her behavior for a while and noticed our head rooster, Cam, was by her side the whole time. Almost like he knew something was going on and wanted to be there to comfort her. Jobin has always been a noisy layer and seems to be annoyed by the whole process, so I knew her tell-tale signs of an impending egg (I call it "egg frustration") and apparently Cam does as well.

The longer I observed them, I noticed Cam acting like he was trying to help Jobin out and remind her where to lay her egg. He was being very vocal as well and standing by a nesting box, almost like he was telling her, "Get in here woman and lay your egg!" She wasn't getting the picture, so he led by example and climbed right into one of the nesting boxes! Jobin ran over to see what he was doing, but never got the hint. Eventually she ran out of the coop and the loyal Cam followed. Luckily I caught this all on camera!

I went back out to check on them a little bit later, and noticed they were both somehow crammed into the same tiny box. Cam was basically on top of Jobin but she didn't seem to mind.

How's that for moral support? I guess it worked because she eventually laid an egg that afternoon!

~Tammy

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Making Your Own Maple Syrup: Part 1 - Collecting The Sap

Last year we really wanted to tap our maple trees to make our own syrup, but I procrastinated so we missed our window of opportunity. We decided about a month ago to get serious about it this year so we started watching the weather and planned our time to collect the sap. Last weekend conditions were favorable, so we made a trip to Lowe's for some supplies and set up our taps.

Since this is our very first attempt at collecting sap, we looked online for an easy way to tap maple trees and found this video to be helpful in planning out the process. We are total newbies and have already made several mistakes, but I thought sharing our experiences might help others who are wanting to tap their maple trees for the first time as well. If you are experienced and have suggestions on how we could improve our process, please let us know. We'd be happy to hear any advice you'd like to share!

Supplies
Screwdriver with 5/16" and 1/2" bits
1/2" metal (not plastic) taps
3/8" clear plastic tubing
5 gallon buckets with lids

Process
1) Find your maple trees.
This is kind of a given obviously, but if you don't know how to identify trees without their leaves, you could be searching your woods forever. We called our local resource forester with the MDC who we worked with for our logging this past summer. Marty has been such an invaluable (and free) resource. I called him last week and he came right out and marked all of our maple trees for us so we'd know which ones to tap (it is advised to tap a tree only when it is healthy and the diameter of the tree is at least 12").

2) Watch your weather patterns to know when it is the optimal time to tap.
The tree sap starts to flow the best when nighttime temperatures are below freezing and daytime temperatures are above freezing. The sap will usually flow for about 3-4 weeks, but the best sap is produced early in the season.

3) Gather your supplies.
You can buy tapping kits online which I'm sure work really well, but we didn't want to wait for anything to come in the mail and tried to keep things as cheap as possible by making a quick trip to Lowe's.

4) Let the tapping begin.
Using your 5/16" bit, drill a hole at a slight upward angle 1.5" deep at chest height on the tree (this is the hole the sap will flow out of). In the same spot, using your 1/2" bit, drill a hole 1/2" deep (this is the hole that you insert the tap into). David put blue tape on each tap as a guide to know when he hit the correct depth.

Insert the tap by "tapping" it in with a hammer. (This is where we made our first mistake. We wanted to go as cheap as possible, so we bought plastic taps and 3 of the 5 broke while trying to insert into the tree, so we went back and purchased the metal variety which worked like a charm.) You may see the sap begin dripping out immediately at this point, depending on the time of day.

Attach tubing to the spigot on the tap and feed it into the bucket at the base of the tree (we drilled a hole in the lid the exact size of the tube). Secure the lid on the bucket to keep out any debris. Our lid did not fasten tight on the bucket, so we had to put a rock on top to keep it in place.

And that's it! Now the waiting game begins. We had a pretty cold day yesterday and temperatures stayed in the 20s, so the sap froze and did not flow. The next few days should get above freezing, so hopefully we will  be able to collect more sap. We have read that the ratio of sap to syrup is 40:1, so if we are able to fill one 5-gallon bucket with sap, we should get about 16 oz of syrup once all is said and done. For our first year, I'd be happy with that. If it works out well, next year we will expand the operation, but this year we are focusing on just learning the process and working out all the kinks. Stay tuned for part 2 to hear about our method for turning the sap into syrup!

Have you ever made your own maple syrup? Did you find it harder or easier than you thought it would be?

~Tammy


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