The Zen of Maple

[VT Surf-N-Turf]

This is how I've been spending my free time lately.
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[iacornfed]

Are you making hide glue or maple syrup?LOL Also what is the little can on top for? I have never had the privilege of making my own syrup. It always appeared to be an interesting process.

[VT Surf-N-Turf]

That would be maple syrup.
The little can on top is my pre-heater. I put the cold sap into the can and let it warm up. Then it runs out a pin hole in the bottom and doesn't kill the boil. I control the flow with a splinter. Ja, its an interesting process. The run this year has been my best ever. I only set 14 taps and after this weekends boil (the last for this year) I will get a total of 3-1/2 gallons of syrup. It takes 40 gallons of sap to boil down to 1 gallon of syrup. My little rig isn't the most efficient evaporator. Over the course of 6 weeks I will have boiled down 140 gallons of sap over 70 hours to get my families yearly supply of maple syrup. In the stores or from a commercial sugar house it costs $50 a gallon, so you can see why we call it "Vermont Gold".

[robert n leeper]

might i suggest a post on tapping, collecting and boiling ? i'd love to learn how to make my own ..just a thought