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Anyone on NS make maple syrup?

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.frenchy
Posts: 18221 - Karma: 12,323

So the season just about started here in Connecticut, was wondering if anyone else does. I plan on making a little more than a gallon with the lack of maple trees in my yard, but it's fun!

:)

Mar 7 2011 3:15PM
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TonKwon
Posts: 1013 - Karma: 54
sounds fun and productive. But no sir, i'm just a lonely pot farmer :)
Mar 7 2011 3:17PM
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Bar_Down
Posts: 5896 - Karma: 395
quebec maple syrup = the most legit
Mar 7 2011 3:25PM
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Ski_the_east01
Posts: 5203 - Karma: 2,306

vt maple syrup = the most legit

Mar 7 2011 3:27PM
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Ski_the_east01
Posts: 5203 - Karma: 2,306
also there is no better smell in the world than a sap boiling shed
Mar 7 2011 3:28PM
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HermioneGranger
Posts: 1933 - Karma: 101
SHIT JUST GOT REAL!
Mar 7 2011 3:28PM
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a_pla5tic_bag
Posts: 9215 - Karma: 5,398
yep. i got a bottle when i went to look at UVM like a year ago. haven't had anything as good since.
Mar 7 2011 3:28PM
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a_pla5tic_bag
Posts: 9215 - Karma: 5,398
yep. i got a bottle when i went to look at UVM like a year ago. haven't had anything as good since.
Mar 7 2011 3:29PM
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SteveStepp
Posts: 9529 - Karma: 20,647
liam downey
Mar 7 2011 3:29PM
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.frenchy
Posts: 18221 - Karma: 12,323

For sure, I go there every april and i make sure i get my hot maple syrup on the snow! 

Related pic:

Click for larger image

Mar 7 2011 3:30PM
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Peter.
Posts: 23796 - Karma: 13,014
nope
Mar 7 2011 3:30PM
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chardi
Posts: 5040 - Karma: 59
mmmmmmmmmmm!
Mar 7 2011 3:30PM
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neutralzombie
Posts: 8629 - Karma: 606
i regret not buying a bottle when i was in vermont to have a taste off between quebec and vermont.
Mar 7 2011 3:33PM
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Bar_Down
Posts: 5896 - Karma: 395
tire*
Mar 7 2011 3:34PM
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apcaipse
Posts: 2168 - Karma: 25
If you'll sell me some, I might buy it.
Mar 7 2011 3:36PM
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.frenchy
Posts: 18221 - Karma: 12,323

Didn't know how to spell it so I described what it was so that people could imagine how awsome it is*

btw it doesn't sound like the american word of 'tire'.. Haha

Mar 7 2011 3:36PM
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Bar_Down
Posts: 5896 - Karma: 395
and ive always been curious about how you make that shit. do you just take the water/sap that comes out of the tree and boil it?
Mar 7 2011 3:37PM
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Montville57
Posts: 1364 - Karma: 18
How do u make it I don't quite understan I know u stick one if those things and the trees and the syrup comes out... It think
Mar 7 2011 3:41PM
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Ski_the_east01
Posts: 5203 - Karma: 2,306
takes roughly 100 gallons of sap to make 1 gallon of syrup which is why the real stuff is so expensive...then they put it in tank that looks liek a shallow bath tub in a sugarhouse and the evaporator is heated to just over the point where the water in the sap will evaporate off leaving just syrup..takes about half a day
Mar 7 2011 3:43PM
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.frenchy
Posts: 18221 - Karma: 12,323

Yea except i do it the old fashioned way and feed a fire all weekend with wood that I start saving up in the summer!

Shit's hard, if I get alot maybe I could sell some (very cheap) To NS'ers?

Mar 7 2011 3:45PM
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Bar_Down
Posts: 5896 - Karma: 395
tru yo, i never knew how to make it cus we used to go collect the sap-collecting buckets on the maples in my grandpa's yard and drink that shit straight. ya, we were hardcore like that ahaha
Mar 7 2011 3:48PM
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Ski_the_east01
Posts: 5203 - Karma: 2,306

yeah thats the only way i've seen it done too..a massive shallow evaporator tub with a wood fire on one end, then the sap is slowly swirled from side to side to burn off all the water..once it gets slightly concentrated throw some strips of bacon/sausage and let it sit for a couple minutes and just drown in the sap and taste it..its amazing

but yeah its definitely a very long and tedious process but nothing better than making your own syrup hopefully you have enough trees to get a decent amount of sap because it takes soooo much sap to make even a little bit of syrup..good luck

Mar 7 2011 3:51PM
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Lemuel
Posts: 14489 - Karma: 10,640
I don't know how people eat the fake stuff, its fucking gross. And VT maple syrup is the best without a doubt.
Mar 7 2011 4:02PM
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RonSwanson
Posts: 214 - Karma: 18
New Jersey Maple Syrup = Most Legit
Mar 7 2011 4:08PM
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.frenchy
Posts: 18221 - Karma: 12,323

Just got about 5 gallons of maple water from the buckets.. Today wasnt too good though, highs were only in the mid 30's with clouds/ snow/ rain in the morning.

Tip: Prime conditions are when it gets mild in the day 45-60 (F) and then goes back below freezing at night, you need good temperature fluctuation.

Mar 7 2011 5:45PM
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JIBpsy^^
Posts: 2851 - Karma: 36
I wish we had maple trees. all i have in CO is pine and aspen. Could i maybe make some pine syrup?
Mar 7 2011 5:50PM
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mikeisener
Posts: 57 - Karma: 13
Me and a few friends always take a bunch of sap from a guy down the street and boil it off. He is lazy and there always overflowing so it's not like he is loosing any. We boil ours right down till it's really thick over a fire in a big cast iron caldron, call it the witches brew.
Mar 7 2011 5:56PM
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E.C.
Posts: 3211 - Karma: 319
8 more post
Mar 7 2011 5:57PM
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tripnip
Posts: 1882 - Karma: 482
this is why very time im in canaada i buy a ton
colorado=/=maple syrup
Mar 7 2011 5:58PM
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adamlukowski
Posts: 3676 - Karma: 311
SEll some to me.. you don't gotta fuck with shipping!
Mar 7 2011 6:17PM
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FBGM
Posts: 8184 - Karma: 2,677
THE BEST.

my best friend has like 450 acres in the middle of nowhere in VT but her family isnt there for the season so they get their trees tapped for them. always mooching the benefits, so good. and an old au pair does it in michigan and sends me some from time to time. also really good, but not as good as VT.
Mar 7 2011 7:04PM
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Z-Juice
Posts: 3151 - Karma: 1,504
Homemade maple syrup is my favorite
Mar 7 2011 8:21PM
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peterpants
Posts: 260 - Karma: 637
not many people do that in AB, but we do have mountains, why make maple syrup when you can go to revelstoke?
Mar 7 2011 8:28PM
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skiskate
Posts: 787 - Karma: 823
Revelstoke is in bc... Why would you want to live in AB and have to drive that far everytime to ride.

My great uncle had a sugar maple block in northern ontario. I used to go out there as a kid all the time and help collect the buckets. I miss fresh maple syrup.
Mar 8 2011 12:48AM
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Malcolm
Posts: 15951 - Karma: 9,451
i love that shit. i just hate when im camping at a spot waiting for it to cool down and some douche steals my maple syrup.
Mar 8 2011 12:56AM
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dmc12380
Posts: 3545 - Karma: 792
back when i was little i always helped out during sugar season in vermont. my dad knew a bunch of farmers, the only process i was involved in was collecting the sap, but it was fun sometimes we had a tractor tow or horses tow the collector, i drove the tractor a few times.
the best part was you get back to the shack at night and there was always freshly boiled syrup straight from the spigot still hot as fuck, id drink cups of that shit. damn the good ol days
Mar 8 2011 3:24AM
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hoodratz47
Posts: 12020 - Karma: 9,475
my uncle and aunt owns a house and some property right near mad river glen in VT.. he makes about 2 gallons a year.. and he sends some to me.... so fucking good.... i am very frugal with it

and with all the east coasters... how could you forget...MAPLE CANDY.NOM NOM NOM.
Mar 8 2011 5:04AM
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Bar_Down
Posts: 5896 - Karma: 395
theres a technique involved. you gotta stand right by your chosen line and make yourself big so its harder to access it, and you gotta just keep staring at it. someone then comes in to attempt the robbery, tries to get around you, then looks at your face and sees you hungrily staring at the lil bit of syrup and theyre like "oh shiiit, thats his syrup, i better gtfo of here"
Mar 8 2011 9:27AM
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TheHamburglar
Posts: 3895 - Karma: 3,315
people tap many of the trees on my parents property in VT, so we basically have an unlimited supply of the most delicious maple syrup. like literally we have gallons just chilling in our basement waiting to be given away. its pretty sweet.
Mar 8 2011 9:49AM
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oil.
Posts: 2255 - Karma: 1,254
Vermont maple syrup is the best by far
Mar 8 2011 12:45PM
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Bar_Down
Posts: 5896 - Karma: 395
pppssshhh ya right
Mar 8 2011 12:52PM
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seemeski
Posts: 4210 - Karma: 124
Maple Icicles are the shit, and Vermont Maple Syrup is the best.
Mar 8 2011 2:41PM
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corona
Posts: 12795 - Karma: 32,751
Maple syrup is actually quite the interest of mine. And yes, i do live on a sugar bush, and yes, i'll post some pictures of the setup, and yes it is the most amazing thing in the world. One correction to the above posts, it is a ratio on average of 40 to 1, sap to syrup. And for any kind of debate on syrup, i have done a lot of tasting and testing and concluded this: quebec syrup is consistently the best. The best vermont syrup i've tasted is on par with the best from quebec. The best syrup comes from non factory farms that don't use reverse osmosis and don't have 50000 trees tapped. Ontario has the best syrup i've ever tasted. That's to sum it up generally. Any questions and ask away, i'll post some pictures of a neat sauna my dad built that uses the steam coming off the evaporators too once i'm at a comp. No other word to describe it but cash.
Mar 8 2011 2:52PM
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RubberSoul
Posts: 11249 - Karma: 14,642
came here to make canada jokes, was foiled by OP
Mar 8 2011 2:53PM
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Bar_Down
Posts: 5896 - Karma: 395
this is what im talkin about. hell, you can go to a fuckin grocery store down here and pick up a can of mass produced maple syrup and it still tastes pretty damn good.
Mar 8 2011 3:51PM
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corona
Posts: 12795 - Karma: 32,751
here are the only pics I could find right now.
this is a sauna build into the top of the sugar shack... if that makes sense? anyways, it's probably the best thing ever.

It's a steam sauna first off, so win right there.
but then imagine the smell of a sugar shack and the sap boiling.
yea.
that smell.
now imagine bathing in that smell.
I know you need to change your pants now.

stairs up to the door of it.. entire thing is cedar making it oh so much nicer.

Click for larger image

ohhhh baby

Click for larger image


and this is a hood that we build that covers overs over the evaporators so that the steam goes into the sauna.

Click for larger image


any questions?




Mar 8 2011 10:02PM
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connory998
Posts: 1197 - Karma: 34
what would you say the minimum number of trees to tap would be? just to try making it for family and friends.
Mar 8 2011 10:10PM
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Troy.
Posts: 5070 - Karma: 12,549
I'm down to buy.
Mar 8 2011 10:28PM
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corona
Posts: 12795 - Karma: 32,751
well it really depends on the season on how much you're going to make, and also on sugar content of the tree itself. but one tap in an average healthy sugar maple on an average season should make anywhere between 1-1.5 litres of syrup. keep in mind, location is a huge factor. if you have a very healthy tree on a southern exposure and tap the south side of the tree and the tree has good sugar content, some can produce up to 4 litres in a season.

but I would generally go by 1 litre per tap per year if you haven't done it before. this means you'll be getting around 40 litres of sap to boil down to that one litre. that obviously changes on sugar content of the tree. for instance our trees have a slightly higher than average sugar content and we get about 30-35 to one depending on the season.

now try not to tap any trees lass than a foot in diameter (I think the official recommendation by whoever is no less than 10 inches). but I'd say a foot so you don't cause stress on a tree that can't handle it. once it's over about 20 inches in diameter you could put 2 taps in the tree. don't have them on the same level above ground and keep them I think 18 inches apart. above about 2 feet-2.5 feet in diameter you could put 3 taps in the tree. I would say no smaller than a 30 inch tree myself. but factory farms tend to load as many taps as possible.

so say you have 3 trees tapped, with 5 taps in total. that should give you about 5-6 litres of syrup. but on a great year could give 8-10 even.

and make sure you have sugar maples. you can tap red maples, but the ratio is somewhere near 100:1 and the syrup that you get just doesnt taste anywhere close to as good. a lot of large factory farms will also tap them along with sugar maple, then use reverse osmosis to get the water content down. that "2% real maple syrup" in whatever aunt jamima's or whatnot is more than likely the poor quality syrup from these large factory farms that tap sometimes in the hundreds of thousands of trees.

but yea. how many trees would you be able to tap?
Mar 8 2011 10:48PM
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connory998
Posts: 1197 - Karma: 34
not sure yet, but for some reason i thought that you get far less syrup from one tree. i live on a wooded 50 acre lot and have at least 5 or 6 sugar maples within view of my house, and many more further away, so maybe il tap a few this year to try it out.

thank for the help.
Mar 9 2011 4:58PM
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Davy.Crockett
Posts: 5373 - Karma: 324
aunt jemimahs. most legit
Mar 9 2011 5:13PM
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