This is how I spent my March weekend! We have a piece of property in northern Ontario and tap our Maple trees. This year we tapped about 80 trees, so I spent all Sat boiling away. Its a 40:1 ratio sap to syrup.
The sugar shack is a great place to catch up on all those old podcasts!
WOW! Very cool. I'm not a big maple syrup fan, but I bet that stuff really tasted good.
I have had some straight from the sugar shake syrup back when I used to visit Vermont. It's awesome, not nearly as thick as store bought with a more natural, lighter flavor.
That is really cool. Here you go though, for some reason I like the taste of maple syrup, but it freaks me out. If it gets on me or is on a plate after we are done eating I start to have anxiety and the smell bothers me. I have to go brush my teeth! :) Go figure!
I'd love to know more about the process. How awesome.
Love Maple Syrup. I have my friends bring me a new bottle back everytime they go skiiing.
We didn't know anything about the process before 5 years ago. We knew we had sugar maples on the property and thought we'd give it a try. My parents bought us the evaporator as a wedding gift,,,,the gift that keeps on giving!!!
I'm always surprised at how simple it really is. You just boil the sap straight from the tree until it is 4 degress celcius above the boiling point of water(which actually changes based on your elevation). Nothing added or subtracted,,,totally natural. If you want to make thoes yummy maple candies you have to boil longer and pour into molds.
I read an interesting stat,,,,Quebec makes 80% of the worlds maple syrup!! So there you go Billy Bob, you should be an expert!
I don't think I ever realised where this came from. My wife loves it but we only get it infrequently.
Wow, that is great! Nothing like the real thing. Once you have had that, it is a tough haul to go back to Mrs. Butterworths!
That's awesome! I love 'real' maple syrup. It is the only syrup I buy. My kids even know not to use "Dad's syrup"! :)
Alas, there are no sugar maples in my area....
I miss sugar shack! I used to go every year when I lived in Quebec.
Ah, the only thing us Canadians eat ;D.
Some group came to our school and made maple syrup stick things by putting a popsicle stick in snow then pouring fresh syrup on it. Only problem was when you licked it, the bits of snow in it melted and it got everywhere. But it was so good.
*is now craving waffles*
You can find recipes on the web for maple syrup wine. I believe the process is close to the same for making regular (grape) wine except you would be using champagne yeast for the fermentation process. I mean if you ever get sick of having it on pancakes that is. :)
I LOVE maple syrup. It's amazing on pancakes (that's a given) vanilla ice-cream and custard. It's been known that I also drink it out of the bottle... I would love to tap some from a tree.
Of course Golden Syrup is addictive. Hmmmmmm golden gloops of sugar hmmmmmmm