Tapping Maple Trees
Sometime in March, we started tapping the maple trees. This is a crucial timing in that taps should be in place when the day is warm and the night preferably at or below freezing. This is because the leaves pull up moisture from the soil during freezing nights, then the next day when it warms up the sap from the leaves drain down, and the taps collect this sap. The sap is colorless, odorless (to me!), and has just a hint of sweetness. Not at all like maple syrup.
First, we identified the maple trees. (1) Then we brought the tools we needed nearer the tree: spouts, buckets, cover, drill. (2)
WE made an initial hole for the drill (3). When drilling a hole for the spout, we chose a site facing west, because that was the side that was most warm during the day, thus encouraging downflow of sap. (4)
WE made sure that a hook was attached to the spout before hammering it into the tree, so we could hang the bucket. (5)
WE covered the bucket to minimize the sap collected being contaminated and diluted by snow. (6)
We waited for several days for the buckets to fill with sap. (7 & 8)
Boiling Maple Sap to Make Syrup
Next step was to boilg the sap to make the syrup. Sap collected should be evaporated fast to result to high quality syrup. Use a big evaporator pan to boil syrup fast. It should be shallow and fire should be hot (as hot as 250 deg F). (9)
Avoid reducing the amount in the pan such that it will scorch. We did not want this to happen because it would impart a bitter taste, thus destroying the syrup.. When the volume was about 30% the original, we transferred to a pot and finished reducing the volume inside the house. (10)
From time to time we would get a sample using a cylinder (11) and placing a hydrometer specific for measuring the density of maple syrup. It should read 30. (12)
While the syrup was boiling, we were also sterilizing the bottles in which to store the syrup (13) . We kept them hot while the syrup was not yet ready. When ready, we immediately removed the hot water (14) then transferred the syrup right away (15), filling the bottles up to the brim because we wanted the least amount of (unsterile) air inside the bottle (16), then we immediately covered with sterile caps picked up by a magnetic gadget to minimize contamination (17). While syrup cooled, we could hear the covers popping secondary to volume shrinkage.
This method, according to my father-in-law, had been the method used by the Cro-Magnon people. There was a time when government regulations had the syrupers use stainless steel buckets and spouts, but later on discovered that these kept the sap warmer, therefore encouraging the proliferation of more bacteria. They had to erase that regulation and went back to the traditional buckets and spouts.
Note: This is not a promotion of our maple syrup because we don't make them for commercial purposes. WE make them for our own consumption because we believe nothing is better than homemade. This page is for purposes of showing how this is done (nice to know!), hoping to inspire other people to re-discover certain traditions in food preparation as handed down from generation to generation. |
