Richard and I went to visit my friend Jean and her husband Gary who produce over 500 gallons of maple syrup a year. They have over 350 acres of land full of old maple trees. Our timing was perfect...it was the last boil of syrup. To produce syrup, the weather has to cooperate and be below freezing at night and a few degrees above freezing point during the day. It's now getting too warm and once the trees bud they can't be tapped.
The sugar camp is about a mile from their house and has been around for over 100 years. Jean remember her grandfather making maple syrup there.
Once you walk in, the room is filled with the delightful aroma of maple-infused steam. It's heavenly.
Look at that boiling syrup. It takes 40 parts of sap to make one part of syrup.
As the season progresses, the syrup gets darker. That's how it's graded. The darker stuff is mostly for baking but I prefer it's intense maple flavour to the lighter grades.
Here's the just-ready syrup, boiling hot coming out of the evaporator...
...and then poured into a filter to get out any impurities.
Here's Gary checking the syrup.
And here it is, hot and delicious. Wow. I've never tasted hot maple syrup, right out of the evaporator. Unbelievably delicious!
Richard and I went to visit my friend Jean and her husband Gary who produce over 500 gallons of maple syrup a year. They have over 350 acres of land full of old maple trees. Our timing was perfect...it was the last boil of syrup. To produce syrup, the weather has to cooperate and be below freezing at night and a few degrees above freezing point during the day. It's now getting too warm and once the trees bud they can't be tapped.
The sugar camp is about a mile from their house and has been around for over 100 years. Jean remember her grandfather making maple syrup there.
Once you walk in, the room is filled with the delightful aroma of maple-infused steam. It's heavenly.
Look at that boiling syrup. It takes 40 parts of sap to make one part of syrup.
As the season progresses, the syrup gets darker. That's how it's graded. The darker stuff is mostly for baking but I prefer it's intense maple flavour to the lighter grades.
Here's the just-ready syrup, boiling hot coming out of the evaporator...
...and then poured into a filter to get out any impurities.
Here's Gary checking the syrup.
And here it is, hot and delicious. Wow. I've never tasted hot maple syrup, right out of the evaporator. Unbelievably delicious!
What a wonderful opportunity. I love the medium syrup too.
ReplyDeleteWhat a neat post. I haven't been to the sugarbush since I was little kid.
ReplyDeleteKnat sent me here, and I'm so glad she did. What an amazing process, and I will be smelling syrup all day. Thank you for sharing!
ReplyDeletePass the molasses and ribbon cane plez...
ReplyDelete