Spring Adventures in Maple Sugaring (Part II)

Posted On March 6, 2020

I have maple syrup y’all!!!

Can I just say this has been a really crazy weird week – but here at the end I have beautiful tasting, fairly clear, and perfectly runny maple syrup!

For my first time, there were TONS of questions like “Is that supposed to happen?” or “Is it really supposed to look like that?” and “How much propane do I have to go through?!” to finally “Is there enough foam? There’s not enough is there!?!” and even a “Why did I decide to do this experiment this year?”. Well, in case you are thinking of giving this a go, learn from my many (MANY) questions and a couple mistakes along the way.

Recap of How To:

Spring Adventures in Maple Sugaring

1. Tap the tree

2. Catch the sap

Okay, onto the next part: The Boil

Yep, The Boil, capitalized because of how labor intensive it was to do fully unprepared. I cannot stress this part enough. Whatever you do, you need to be able to get the biggest pots or pans that you own incredibly hot and keep them hot for prolonged periods of time. Maybe even buy one specific pot secondhand just for the job. After all, if you use your favorite stock pot it will be out of commission for quite some time. You’ve been warned, those of you who love home made soup!

Sap Collection Log (Do not try this at home)

So the first thing I did was try to log the amount of sap collected each day. According to my records this is what I gathered:

• 600 mL on the first day
• 3.4 L on the second day
• Couldn’t measure all of it on the third day, but I estimate 10 L
• 2.4 L on the fourth day
• Almost nothing on the fifth day
• 800 mL on the sixth day
• The seventh day was a high volume day. I didn’t count how much I had, I just know there was no more mason jars and no more room in the refrigerator! I thought I’d have more time to determine the best way to do the evaporation, maybe buy some logs, build a beautiful fire, something! Nope. ON TO THE (admittedly rushed) BOIL!

Materials Used (Don’t use this list)

• Giant stock pot
• Candy thermometer
• Old “free” propane grill
• Roughly 12 or more hours of “free” time
• Steamy Kitchen (not recommended)

Full disclosure – this is what panic boiling looks like:

With that in mind, there’s a TON that I would change. First of all, I would’ve used a shallow long pan that took up all the space on my grill. Secondly, I would’ve started with a full propane tank, instead of a 1/3 full tank – it definitely made a difference! I also would’ve planned the timing a little better. Boiling from 5:30 pm to 9:30 or 10:00 pm every night, even in the cold & rain, was not very fun! I would plan for more storage, better evaporation, higher heat, and better weather.

Since hindsight is 20/20, let’s talk about what went right during this process (and what to look for to answer some of the questions Google just might not understand):

• Fast or slow, high heat or low heat, you need evaporation! As long as a cloud of moisture is coming off your pot, you’re good to go! (The best way to do this, is to have a shallow pan instead of a long, tall cylinder, but hey we can’t all be perfect)
• Reduce the amount of sap a whole heck of a lot. When you’re at half, go half again.
• Keep evaporating, keep boiling. Just keep swimming. Just keep boiling. Add sap as it comes out of the tree. Lose track of exactly how much you’ve collected. It’s probably your body weight by now.
• After you think you’re a crazy person, stirring a pot outside for two whole nights, cackling like a witch over her cauldron, you might have the thought “if I boil down any further I should put it in a smaller pot”. STOP – here’s your sign! In my experience, this happens around 10 pm the second night of boiling, or maybe after 12 – 13 hours total.
• Check the temp here! It should be roughly 200°F. Great! We’re almost there. Now, you can go inside, away from the icy cold, and get out that smaller pot. Pick a clean one, that you don’t mind getting REAL STICKY. Go ahead, you’ll be fine. We’ll be fine.

Some pictures of this phase for me:

Graduating from The Boil to The Big Finish

Finally! You’ve reduced the sap by about a tenth. There’s only a small amount of the massive amount of sap you’ve been boiling your whole life. Finally, retirement!

Go inside with your lukewarm coffee, take off your heavy damp flannel, shuffle off your comfy boots. Maybe take a hot shower, you’re cold and weird, you smell like sap – and not the sugary part. Get your PJs on – It’s finishing time!

Grab your smaller pot (make sure it’s bigger than you actually need – maybe enough to fill 1/3 of the way and no more) and your candy thermometer. That’s it! IF you have planned this out way better than I have, maybe have a hygrometer, some cheesecloth or filters, and have your cleaned mason jars and lids ready.

Here’s my setup:

Just my stovetop, a smaller pot, a candy thermometer, and an ounce of patience!

If you notice foam at the top, skim it off the surface, those are impurities. They aren’t bad for you, they just make the syrup a lot less clear. I skimmed and babied my sap from the start, hoping to not have to filter so much at the end. You can do the same, or skim it at this part of the process only. When you have a very rough boil and the thermometer reaches 219°F, you have your syrup! Turn off the heat. You’re nearly there.

If you’ve ever grown bacterial cultures in biology, or spent time in a chemistry lab, you’ll likely already understand the sterile or “aseptic” technique. But for those non-science-geeks out there, your ultimate goal is to transfer your newly finished syrup into your sterile container while keeping it nice and clean! Sugar attracts a lot of bacteria. The good news is you don’t need anything special, and you can do it quickly! The quicker you can do it, the less contamination you risk.

Ok, so let me walk you through it. I started with a thick cheesecloth draped over a mason jar funnel, put the funnel over my clean mason jar, and quickly poured the syrup over the cheesecloth and into the mason jar. Once full, I put on the seal and ring. Because the syrup is so hot, likely it will pop the seal down itself. If this does not happen, you may want to try a pressure or hot water bath canning method, a vacuum seal (which doesn’t replace pressure canning), or just placing it in the refrigerator.

Don’t have cheesecloth? You can use a coffee filter, or even a folded t shirt. Just make sure it is clean, and you’re good to go! And if you don’t filter it at all, it won’t be pretty, but it will be pretty dang delicious anyhow! That’s just extra minerals – save some money on vitamin supplements and go nuts (caution: don’t do this if you have diabetes, I’m not a medical professional)!

Now, enjoy the fruits of your labor and marvel at the beauty of making your own syrup from scratch – tree to table!

Disclaimer: some settling is natural, that’s the mineral deposit. But please note, bacteria and fungus love sugar, so be careful that you don’t grow any unwanted experiments in your labor intensive final product. Please don’t sue me if you can’t use the aseptic technique.