On the way back from Kitchener I saw a couple of trailers with signs for fresh maple syrup for sale. I'm pretty sure the sap hasn't been running yet. However, conditions look good for next week. Good luck to anyone tapping trees.
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On the way back from Kitchener I saw a couple of trailers with signs for fresh maple syrup for sale. I'm pretty sure the sap hasn't been running yet. However, conditions look good for next week. Good luck to anyone tapping trees.
Should be starting run next week up here.
Those trailers are probably unloading their leftover supply. Still better than what you can get in a store.
Funny when we went to Maui last winter. My wife went first thing to Costco to get groceries. People were loading their whole carts with pineapples. Then you would see them on the side of the road with signs reading "fresh pineapples." It wasn't pineapples season yet but they were making a good profit on those store bought pineapples to unsuspecting tourists.
Just got back from Hawaii a couple of weeks ago. Pineapples are a year round crop there. They are no longer grown as a large scale commercial crop due to high labour costs in processing.Quote:
Originally Posted by TheProvider00
I can't comment on the Kitchener area but Niagara has had intermittent sap runs the past 3 weeks. I have been a little slow getting started but I will be boiling today.
The Mennonite/amish market gardener at Scone (just around the corner from you ) had pails hanging off the trees in his front yard a week and a half ago when I was past there. just sayinQuote:
Originally Posted by JMatthews
A friend of mine just a kilometer away from here has already boiled and stored 6, 38 gallon barrels of syrup this season so far , it stopped running a couple of days ago but is starting to run again today.
He has 3500 trees tapped and is running a vacuum system.
We are almost done down here. If the Temps stay above freezing next week we will be done.Dutch
Tapping our bush Tues. Was going to start today but I had an MRI.
Tomorrow I need to feed the bees.
A run of sap has already happened in the London area.
Of course it will be starting this week around here, two hunting shows to do back to back over the next two weeks ... really hoping I don't miss out on the boil this year. I make enough for family and friends and there will undoubtedly be some long faces if I miss the run ....
Pretty slow going for me. How are the rest of you guys making out?
I have finished 9 litres so far, and as of right now have no sap to boil. I usually do around 20l a season. Its been a funny one, that's for sure. Hoping I can get my 20l with this weeks weather, but its not quite getting warm enough for my trees to really run. I get a couple hours when they run mid afternoon, but very slow going.
S.
As of this past Sunday [yesterday] my friend has just over 500 gallons of finished syrup, there was a pancake and sausage breakfast there yesterday, and he said if there is no more sap running the next couple of days, he is closing down and will clean up all the equipment , as when the trees start budding the sap turns cloudy and the taste is off.Quote:
Originally Posted by jaycee
Friend of mine said in her area the run was ruined due to temps rising too fast.
Weird season for us too. Although, we haven't had a single "good" or "normal" season for 5 yrs straight... So maybe wonky is the new normal.
We've only collected 250 gallons of SAP on 150ish taps. That's pretty pitiful. Warmed up enough last week just enough to get rid of the snow, then froze up again so the sap isn't running.
I'm sure now it'll warm up to +10 for a solid week and kill any chance we have at getting a respectable harvest.
Sap has been flowing steady for about 10 days in Fort Frances.
Not sugar maples.
My neighbour taps the big Silver maples in his yard. Makes a very nice mild flavoured syrup.
I tap Red Maples from the farm property-- also makes an excellent syrup that is just as good as Lanark County product.
A friend in Brechin and one in Orillia told me the same thing, they haven't got much this year.Quote:
Originally Posted by MarkB
Just got home today from the Toronto Sportsmen Show and tapped our first trees, they were running well late afternoon, will update after a day or two.
It is crazy what a few km will do. I talked with a guy last night who has tapped trees near Kemptville, he said they are going like crazy. We have manitoba maple and next year we will tap them (takes about 60-1 for this syrup) but decided this year was too weird, we are missing out. We actually had to cut a branch off one of the trees due to the ice damage and we have a 3ft sap sicle hanging off of it now, running like crazy.Quote:
Originally Posted by Oddmott
Collected a whopping 140l from 146 taps last night. SLOW going. Just not quite warm enough in the day. Just the sunny trees produced. The shady buckets were all dry. Fingers crossed we get some warmer daytime highs and still keep the overnights below zero.
S.
I moved out to NB this summer and tapped some maples for the first time this winter. I only have red maples. I thought I'd start small and put in 10 taps. I've been happy so far. I've had them out for 4 weeks now. I've collected ~150L of sap which has reduced down to 3L of syrup. I've been very happy with the product and have really enjoyed the process. I've got another 20L I need to collect, then I head out of town for a week. Forecast looks okay to till I get back, but that will likely be the end of it. I'm hoping to come back to all my buckets full, which should get me another ~2L of syrup. That would be .5L of syrup per tap. I'd be happy with that, then next year I'd like to get up to 30-40 taps and get ~15L of syrup if I can.
Some of my product.
https://scontent-yyz1-1.xx.fbcdn.net...5d&oe=5782A54C
Nothing like Mrs. Buttersworth !
Quote:
Originally Posted by yellow dog
No its not! One of the first things I had to do was make some maple pecan sugar pies.
Attachment 32363
The golden number is one litre per tap. I have only had that happen one year. So far this year I'm not even close. 9L finished for 46 taps. Boooo!!
Oh well, still better than nothin!
S.
I went to Maple Bluff Farm in Huntsville last week and the owner said it was one of the best years ever, nice operation he has there with excellent products. He told me he has over 90,000 feet of tubing collecting the sap.
Mail some to me and i will let you know if they are any good. :)Quote:
Originally Posted by CptSydor
Question for you syrup guru's. My son collected 5 gallons of sap and we just started boiling the first half. Once it starts boiling do I reduce heat and low boil or keep it at a rolling boil.? Never done this before and when I came home from work on monday my son had tapped our tree and rigged up a pretty efficent collection device from items he found in the car port so I said we would try it out.
And I should boil with the lid off correct.?
Keep it boiling as hard as you can. The faster you boil off the moisture the better
No lid
Thanks Jow,
Important thing to know when the sap gets low in the pan and starts to foam that a sign that its time to take off the stove or you will have maple candy instead of syrup.
Quote:
Originally Posted by gowbushkon
And if you turn your back on it, within a few minutes you'll have a burned pan.
Never walk away for even a few minutes, near the end of the boil.
Yep, we got maple candy , lol . We will try again as we have another 3 gallons so far.
when the sap is at a rolling boil, you still have a lot of water content, however when it gets to the frothy stage, immediately and I mean immediately remove from heat and add a teaspoon of butter to kill the froth as at this time you have pure maple syrup.
Good to know, we have another 5 gallons and will try again this afternoon.
http://www.ottawasun.com/2016/03/30/...-lanark-county
"West of Pembroke, Ray Bonenberg of Mapleside Sugar Bush says the season is possibly the best in 25 years. It started early in March thanks to El Niņo, and it just won’t quit."
Ray's bush is one lot away from mine. I was up last Monday - there's still about a foot and a half of snow in the bush.
The last couple weeks at the families sugar bush have been ridiculous. Just yesterday in the evening we had collected 150 gallons and we no longer have storage space so another boil will be happening today. Even the days you think the sap won't run we still collect between 40-60 gallons. My brother (OddMott) has picked a great time to go touring around Ireland.....
Well, the bride chose this time.... And she's gotten an ear full.Quote:
Originally Posted by otto11
But, Ireland has been AWESOME, so I can't get too upset about missing the sap season.
Gotta agree with the above ... best season in awhile, I have run out of storage for the sap!
I've been boiling non stop for 5 days. Crazy amounts of sap. I can barely keep up. I have been lucky to be off work for the last 7, so I timed it just right. So far finished 25.5 litres of syrup, 16 of them in the last 3 days. Will be over 30 by the time I am done what I have collected right now, and it doesn't look like we are done yet.
Sometimes I wonder why I do all this work for syrup. I hardly use it, but we have had some great times the last few days messing around in the woods and watching sap boil LOL
S.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Hunter John
Yes, boil as hard as you can until it gets down to what I call "nearup".
Once the sugar content gets high enough you will notice it change. It will foam and try to boil over the pot. This is when you reduce the heat some.
Use a thermometer and see what temp your sap boils at. Once the temp raises 7 degrees higher than what your thermometer reads with pure sap, you have syrup.
It takes a while. The general rule is 40:1. A 20 litre pail should yield you 500ml of syrup.
Any questions just ask.
S.
TOTAL novice here! I would like to try making some maple syrup and was wondering two things. First, is it too late to tap a tree now and can I tap a Manitoba Maple? I live in Caledon. Thanks!!
Yes you can tap a manitoba maple, but the sugar content isn't as high as a sugar maple, so you need more sap to get the syrup.
Its really hard to say if its too late. This cold weather this weekend might start a whole new run.,
You need below zero temps at night, and above zero in the day to make the sap flow, so if we get more cold nights and warm days, it will flow.
S.
I started two weeks ago and with this cold weather only got 5gals of sap, hopefully with the warmer weather coming this weekend will get more.If it don't start soon will have to pull every thing as we have more important jobs to get done.
Lots of folks do Manitoba maple here in the Northwest and also in Manitoba.Quote:
Originally Posted by duckbnot
But...if you don't have Sugar maples, the next best is Red maple.
I did some Manitoba maple last year. The syrup looks good and tastes nice up front. But there is a weird after taste. This happened even early season so it was not just being "buddy".
Personally, I wouldn't do Manitoba Maples again.
Thanks for the info. I'll collect for the rest of this week and boil on Saturday. Curious to see how it comes out.Quote:
Originally Posted by johny
This past week put a hold on things with 30cm+ of snow and -15c temps but starting today we'll get some prime weather conditions, I don't think it'll last long until the buds show up on the trees. We started late but have about 12 trees tapped around the driveway and have 4 litres of syrup so far, maybe 1-2 litres more to come(I hope). Always a great time of year.
It has been by far our best year in a long time. Froze solid over the weekend but the sap is running again today, probably the last week we are headed into. It has been several years since I have run out of firewood for the burn and I am likely to run out sometime this week and close out the season!
Sap flowed overnight again. All buckets 1/2 - 3/4 full this morning as of 10:39am.
We too are out of this year's wood and burning next year's stockpile. If it's not done this week... We may have to drop a few of the standing dead trees. Lol
Stubborn father still hasn't set up the pipe 'n pump system I put money into to save the legs & back this season.
He's regretting it now I tell you. Nothing like hauling 2x 5gallon pails of sloshing sap around a rocky bush that'd make a goat watch its step to make you regret certain life decisions.
When does the sap generally stop flowing??....I'm a noob.....as if ya can't tell. LoL!
When we stop getting over night temps below zero. If it doesn't go below zero, the sap stays in the branches to feed the buds.
I collected 110 litres yesterday, but my taps are coming out this weekend. I've had enough. Made over 40 litres of syrup.
S.
I hear ya. I have hauled many, many, many, many buckets of sap this year. Most with no snow on the ground, so using my usual sap sleigh was out of the question. Just make it stop already! LOLQuote:
Originally Posted by Oddmott
S.
My trees have finally started to run again. Got 4 gallons of sap yesterday, still lots of snow in the bush.
+18c today again and sunny,collected about 5gal of sap this morning and it was still clear, but no freezing temps overnight. Maybe a day or 2 left, should end up with about 6-8 litres of syrup.