Tapping your own trees or maybe others, is a great way to get sugar as well as nutrient rich sap to drink.
When I have enough maple syrup, I boil the rest to maybe 1/4 of the way and use for BBQ sauce mix. Saves the extra effort to boil all the way down and still gives a nice flavour to ribs or chicken. Saps running nice today
Rough calculations for those who have never done it, is 40 gallons sap to one gallon of syrup. So 50 big pails is likely the minimum for a good quantity for personal use. 100 or even 200 would be nice if you can do it. Some years the volume is down or the percentage can even be one hundred to one, in which case you will love to have those 200 pails!
Have more then you need, you can always barter it
Sap is running really well right now, (remember that you can tap a lot more trees then just maples) Birch Syrup is a much beloved one for all those northern folks that do not have maple tree's and Black Walnut is outstanding.
I will agree.. doing a half boil down and then drinking it as fresh drink is lovely, you can also pressure can it if you want for stable self-life if you want to drink it for longer..
I like the idea of ribs or chicken, I love to bring it down to 1/4th and then cook roasts or stew meat (deer or moose if possible) in it, I have a few recipes on this that have made it to my blog and not only do they get rave reviews from my friends and family, but nothing but positive feedback on them.
Here is a good run this year..
http://livingmydreamlifeonthefarm.wordpress.com/
Sap is running really well right now, (remember that you can tap a lot more trees then just maples) Birch Syrup is a much beloved one for all those northern folks that do not have maple tree's and Black Walnut is outstanding....
I heard about birch, but never walnut. I only have a few birch, but I do have a good number of walnut so may try that next year. THANkS for the tip
Shameless promotion of the Elmira Syrup Festival coming up this April 7th:
http://www.elmiramaplesyrup.com/
Great way to kill a day! I think 70k attendees last year to a town or about 9k. 🙂 The entire downtown is cordoned off, there are tours, etc.
https://www.internationalpreppersnetwork.net/viewtopic.php?f=57&t=7738
Shameless promotion of the Elmira Syrup Festival coming up this April 7th:
http://www.elmiramaplesyrup.com/
Good self promotion is never shameless. Loved the quebec sugar bushes and all the tasty low calorie food!
I'm giving my maple trees a year off this year....
I still have lots of Maple syrup on my shelves.
PrepHer
I like the idea of giving them a break. Will be switching to another area next year and maybe tapping that for two or three years. Good for you on doing that
