Monday, March 9, 2009

Sugar Time!


It's that time a the year again! Maple sap's startin ta flow, and I saw some geese the other day.
I tap the trees round here, probably have bout 20 pails up. Get enough syrup for the year, and maybe some to give away to family. After we have about 50 gallons or so, we do the burn down. It's rough, sittin outside in the beautiful spring sun, feedin a fire all day! By the evening the sap's boiled down ta bout 5 gallons, and I bring it inside to finish on the stove. Ya really got to keep an eye on it at this stage, or it'll burn. When it gets bout 7 degrees past boilling point, it's ready. I don't usually measure the temp, ya can tell by the way it falls off a spoon. After that, you pour it through a filter, then into jars (prep em just like fer pickles).
Some folks say it'll make a mess of the kitchen, but I don't find that. And what an aroma it leaves!

4 comments:

Terry Scoville said...

Some of the plus's of living in the East. I remember doing that when I was at school in VT. during the 70's. Just about made it worth while surviving the cold bitter winters.

Anonymous said...

I'm not fond of syrup in general, but the homemade stuff is pretty good.

bushman said...

Just about, Terry, Just about...

I'm not much of a sweet tooth, but ya, the homemade stuff I love...

Anonymous said...

I love maple syrup. I grew up on the fresh stuff from vermont