Temperatures are warming up and the fridge is melting rapidly.
It is still cold enough for a ring of ice inside the pot to keep the sap nice and cold.
We filtered the sap through some cheese cloth,
brought out the turkey fryer and started boiling the sap. In previous year we boiled the sap on an open fire, but frankly, this is so much easier…
So far this was not a good year for sap and we were only able to collect about five gallons. since the ratio of sap to syrup is about 1/40, we may get between a quarter to half a litre from this amount.
Not very much.
Hopefully the sap will run a bit longer so that we can boil some more.
The sap starts off fairly clear, almost like water, and as it boils down it gradually turns a darker colour.
It will now boil for several hours,
until it reaches 219 farenheit / 104 celsius when it will turn into syrup.
There’s another trick to tell when the sap turns to syrup, but you’ll have to wait until our next post.
Gotta love that turkey fryer!
Indeed!
It’s been a fun process to watch.
It ain’t over yet!
How exciting!!
It is!
this is quite a bit of work; it’s nice watching someone else do it!
Haha, it’s actually not as much work as I make it sound 🙂
it’s more work than going to the store and buying it at the store… 🙂
Sure. That’s true practically about anything that you make yourself 🙂
that’s why I don’t make much myself 🙂
So much fun to make your own maple syrup. We’re having a neighbour who makes that every year. I shall probably try some day🙂
Christie
I hope that your neighbour is kind enough to let you have some 🙂
Oh, I didn’t ask, with so many restrictions we’ve had in the past year.. But I will probably, when the things will come back to normal.. well, when they will relax😍
Boiling the sap looks like sticky business. I love that you use your turkey fryer. That’s too funny. Hopefully you’re able to collect more sap still.
It is sticky. Well, crusty to be exact…my glasses and cell phone had a layer of crust on them that turned out to be hardened maple syrup vapours. I’ll peer more carefully next time 🙂
Love the process!
Glad you like it!
Sorry you didn’t get much sap but cool you know how to make syrup!
We ended up with about 3 litres, so not too bad after all!