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10:00 pm
March 13, 2010
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LK
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| Mighty Chicken | posts 148 | |
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We tapped it and you know, no one answered!
We actually tapped a few trees (10 taps in total), but only one tree seems to be flowing at this point. It is a big tree. We have 3 taps in it. We collected about 2 litres today.
It will be interesting to see if we will eventually get syrup or if we will get bored and burn it in the end. It has been fun so far.
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10:05 pm
March 13, 2010
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CindyP
| | Hart, MI | |
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| posts 7628 | 
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Have you made syrup before? You'll have to keep us up on it!
I saw quite a few trees this past week with buckets hanging from them. Another sign of spring 
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“Learn all you can from the mistakes of others. You won’t have time to make them all yourself.” ― Alfred Sheinwold
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10:49 pm
March 13, 2010
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Suzanne McMinn
| | Sassafras Farm in Roane County, WV | |
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I would LOVE to have trees to tap and make syrup!!!
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11:58 pm
March 13, 2010
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LK
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| Mighty Chicken | posts 148 | |
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We haven't done it before, but have done lots of reading and researching. My grandpa used to do it, so I thought if he could do it, so can we!  It is fun to see the drip coming from the freshly drilled hole and put in the spout…oh so quickly! Our kids just HAD to taste it dripping right out of the tree, and of course we took videos and pictures!
We don't have Sugar Maples here, but Manitoba Maples, just like my grandpa had. You can use other maples than the sugar maples, it is just that you may have to boil the sap longer. You can also tap birch trees.  Do you have those? I hear that they do this in Alaska, and it tastes really good!
We are using milk jugs hung on our spiles to collect the sap. I think that we just got the beginning of our season here. We have read that it can run as long as a month in some areas. It depends on the temperature fluctuation for one. We are learning as we go. I will let you know how things go.
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5:55 am
March 14, 2010
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Leahld22
| | Newburgh, IN | |
| Superstar | posts 2673 |
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How exciting your grandpa would be proud of you. I'd like to see a pic of video if you can manage it. Have fun,make pancakes! Make Suzanne's Quick Mix it makes great pancakes and its easy,keeps in the fridge!
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Life is too important to be taken too seriously.
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7:14 am
March 14, 2010
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CindyP
| | Hart, MI | |
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I thought you could only tap sugar maples………hmmm, I have maples. Will have to determine the type I have and research it. Would love to see some pics!
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“Learn all you can from the mistakes of others. You won’t have time to make them all yourself.” ― Alfred Sheinwold
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1:47 pm
March 14, 2010
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lavenderblue
| | WNY | |
| Mighty Chicken | posts 204 | |
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How is the tapping going? I've heard you can only tap until the tree begins to bud, then it gets bitter. Could you do some pictures or a video? I'd love to see it. I have only one lousy maple tree to my name, so don't know if I would get enough to bother with, especially if it's not a sugar maple. Approximately 40 gallons of sap equals 1 gallon of cooked down syrup, I don't know as I care for those odds.
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Progress might have been all right once, but it has gone on too long. Ogden Nash
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2:19 pm
March 14, 2010
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wvhomecanner
| | North Central WV | |
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Yeah the odds stink but you should do it at least once! I did this twice when I lived 'up the holler' for 12 years. My neighbor offered to tap my two huge trees with his taps and his jugs if I would let him have 1/2 of the sap. I knew he was taking more than 1/2 but what the heck – he sat my 'share' on the porch and my collection efforts were only to step out and grab em lol. Yes I burned the first batch. My firstborn was an infant… distractions…… no burning after that. Was it worth the propane used to evaporate? Probably not. But I had made it and it tasted wonderful. My neighbor at the time had the best way – hers sat in a pot on her woodstove, slowly evaporating – she would just take it off the stove if she was afraid it was close to thickening and it was close to bedtime. Put it back on the next morning. It's fun and satisfying to do it – at least once!
dede
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"Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not." ~ The Lorax by Dr. Seuss ~
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8:15 am
March 15, 2010
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Angela P
| | SW Michigan | |
| Mighty Chicken | posts 157 |
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It really takes a lot of time to boil down the sap to syrup. 40 gal sap to 1 gal syrup. Oh, but doesnt your tummy just sing when you get that first taste? Delicious LAAAAA!
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7:11 pm
March 15, 2010
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LK
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| Mighty Chicken | posts 148 | |
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Right now we have got a bit of a (good?) problem. We tapped some maple trees, and as of this afternoon, we are getting A LOT. Now (a little on the late and urgent side), we are needing a large, somewhat deep stainless steel pan to boil it in. O boy, you think that we would have got that together first.
We thought that the sap wasn't running very quickly so we would have a while yet. Well, after going today, we saw that our collection jugs were overflowing. We don't know for how long they were doing so, but I guess it is time to check our big tree twice a day now. The smaller ones are starting finally too.
I figured out how to pull some pics out of a video. I could post a video. It is neat to see the sap drip, and a picture doesn't cut it. How do I use the symbols above my post to put them in here? I tried, but I am not getting it.
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8:14 pm
March 15, 2010
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Pete
| | WV | |
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LK, there's a tutorial on posting pics over in the Welcome! section.
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Anulos qui animum ostendunt omnes gestemus!
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5:01 am
March 16, 2010
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CindyP
| | Hart, MI | |
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That is a good problem, though!!!! And that sounds like something I would do…….jump right on in then hurry, hurry trying to find something as I went 
I think the video needs to be uploaded to something like youtube (I think BuckeyeGirl discovered youtube worked best), then use the icon that looks like a filmstrip.
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“Learn all you can from the mistakes of others. You won’t have time to make them all yourself.” ― Alfred Sheinwold
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10:58 am
March 16, 2010
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JeannieB
| | Columbia, South Carolina | |
| Superstar | posts 1453 | |
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Ohhh I just love maple syrup, it's my favorite.
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Don't cry because it's over—smile because it happened!
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11:24 am
March 16, 2010
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Pete
| | WV | |
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Jeannie, if we get a "road trip" going here, I'll bring you some samples. You know, we always volunteer to "help" by doing quality control on the product. We could probably arrange our schedules to do some of that for this project. At great personal sacrifice, of course. 
For the good of the CitR family. We can't leave you out, Jeannie, just because you are otherwise occupied!
Aren't we generous? Especially with our tastebuds?? Oh, OK, I might even stir the pot a bit! 
Would it help if we bring BIG stock pots???
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Anulos qui animum ostendunt omnes gestemus!
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11:43 am
March 16, 2010
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juststartn
| | South Central Oklahoma | |
| Big Chicken | posts 41 | |
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You can tap many kinds of trees, not just maples. Birch and poplar are both popular alternatives (Lehman's sells the syrup). It is different, but still works.
We've got four maples here, one very young, so really only three at the moment. DH and I have discussed pulling up the nasty Bradford pears and replacing them with maples (probably reds, since they grow faster and do better this far south).
How old do the trees have to be before you can tap them? That's something I've not seen in my (admittedly, not very frequent/thorough) readings on the subject.
A friend of ours tapped his silver maples, and got a *MUCH* higher amount of actual syrup to the amount of sap he tapped. SO a 40:1 ratio is not a dead on given…depending on different factors, you may end up with more or less syrup in the end.
Rachel
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12:03 pm
March 16, 2010
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JeannieB
| | Columbia, South Carolina | |
| Superstar | posts 1453 | |
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I have some really big pots!!
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Don't cry because it's over—smile because it happened!
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12:05 pm
March 16, 2010
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Pete
| | WV | |
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| posts 7875 | |
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I could bring a three burner propane fired hot plate, too!
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Anulos qui animum ostendunt omnes gestemus!
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12:08 pm
March 16, 2010
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JeannieB
| | Columbia, South Carolina | |
| Superstar | posts 1453 | |
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Oh yeah, I'll start saving some bottles, don't want cost to be a burden for the tree tappers!
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Don't cry because it's over—smile because it happened!
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5:42 pm
March 16, 2010
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LK
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| Mighty Chicken | posts 148 | |
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I wish that I knew about the silver maples giving sap when I was a kid. It is mentioned in the book that we have. One family on a corner lot by our place had the largest trees I had ever seen!
What kind of poplars are you talking about? Would you have any idea of the botanical name? Could it be cottonwoods, by any chance? If so, we could try that out. We have a few large trees close by here. Hey, here is a site that has some information on poplar trees…cottonwoods are good to go! http://www.gardenguides.com/90…..trees.html When you are here, check out under their references, the link from the University on Maine. We printed this information off for ourselves to use this year. Very good.
We did find a suitable stainless steel container. It cost us about $30, and that is pretty good as far as I understand. We were able to find a large, deep baking container from a used restaurant supply store. It is rated up to 1000* for heat resistance. It is very clean too, so that is a bonus.
You don't want any aluminum (makes the syrup taste bad), and you don't want the container to be thin. You don't want it to melt!
The trees need to be a certain diameter before you can tap them without damaging them. Here is a link to a site with good information, and the next has info on birch tree tapping:
http://www.tapmytrees.com/taptree.html
http://www.theheartofnewenglan…..pping.html
The sap when we collected it has been mostly water, and not even sweet yet. Today it is starting to get sweet. One day made a big difference. I am sure that it will mean less boiling. We will be giving our watery sap to the animals, as there has still got to be some minerals and such there, even if the sugar content isn't too high. It will save us some boiling time. Sap doesn't last long, so you need to boil it within a couple of days if not sooner. If it is milky, it is no good anymore.
We will be trying to boil today's sap down. We'll keep it cool until tomorrow, and then I think we'll start in the morning.
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6:52 pm
March 16, 2010
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Pete
| | WV | |
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| posts 7875 | |
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Keep us posted, LK! It is so much fun to go along with the journey of discovery, even when we can't see it first hand.
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Anulos qui animum ostendunt omnes gestemus!
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