{"id":1458,"date":"2014-04-14T10:00:10","date_gmt":"2014-04-14T15:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.foell.org\/justin\/?p=1458"},"modified":"2016-03-14T10:09:24","modified_gmt":"2016-03-14T15:09:24","slug":"home-made-maple-syrup-part-2-cook","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.foell.org\/justin\/home-made-maple-syrup-part-2-cook\/","title":{"rendered":"Home Made Maple Syrup Part 2 \u2013 The Cook"},"content":{"rendered":"

You’ve collected enough sap<\/a>, and now it’s time to boil down to syrup. The first weekend of April was it for 2014, the freeze thaw cycle is over until next year. So let’s talk about turning that sap into syrup.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\"You<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t
You don’t need to be this scientific<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t<\/figure>\n

First, plan on dedicating an entire day to cooking. Every year I’ve made syrup, it has taken me 12 hours from start to finish. When I make my boiling rig more efficient, I happen to get more sap and for some magic reason it always takes all day.\u00a0Also, you want to boil outside<\/em>. 5 Gallons of sap yields one pint of syrup. Would you be willing to dump 5 gallons of water in your kitchen?<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

For Starters<\/h2>\n

When I started syruping I just tapped two trees and decided to do my boil on my propane grill. This is fine for a first-timer if you just want to experience the process before diving in. I put two stainless steel steam table pans on my grill:<\/p>\n

\"Image0110\"<\/a><\/p>\n

BTW, the thermometers on the trays in the above photo are totally unnecessary. I put them on for a photo-op. Accurate temperature measurement is only needed when you do the finishing. Once things were boiling I added some sap every now and then to keep the level consistent. You will<\/em> go through an entire 20 lb. tank of propane this way. Either have a spare on hand or be prepared to shut everything down while you go to get a refill.<\/p>\n

Even my first foray yielded a fair amount of tasty real<\/em> maple syrup:<\/p>\n

\"Image0112\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Wood is Good<\/h2>\n

Boiling 10 (or less) gallons of sap with a 20 lb. canister of propane is OK. You’ll get your 1-2 pints of syrup for the cost of a propane cylinder or two. So you’re at about $15 per pint – about what real maple syrup sells for in the grocery store. If you want to go bigger, you’ll want to go cheaper and that means wood.<\/p>\n

Supplies:<\/p>\n