This is a time of firsts for me. And for trying new things. Ruth from Riverbend was here - she took home our German level 1 guided reading books to try out. While she was here, she shared that they were collecting maple sap to make syrup from Manitoba maples. That was an eye-opener for me - it hadn't occurred to me that you could tap Manitoba maples. I thought the tree had to have a 'real' maple leaf!
But I was game and fortunately for me, so was Stephen, and Julian, and Theron, and Bobby, and Markus, and Taddeus, and Eva and Carrie and all my school kids. We had a lot of helpers as we went through the process of collecting the sap, straining it and boiling it down to syrup.
This was definitely a learning experience. I did many things wrong, not once but twice... but... hopefully I'll know better next time. We did manage to get a fair amount of sap - around 300 gallons which amounted
to about 8-9 gallons of syrup.
But I was game and fortunately for me, so was Stephen, and Julian, and Theron, and Bobby, and Markus, and Taddeus, and Eva and Carrie and all my school kids. We had a lot of helpers as we went through the process of collecting the sap, straining it and boiling it down to syrup.
This was definitely a learning experience. I did many things wrong, not once but twice... but... hopefully I'll know better next time. We did manage to get a fair amount of sap - around 300 gallons which amounted
to about 8-9 gallons of syrup.
The first time we tapped the trees, we used three-inch 7/16 copper lengths but ended up buying real spiles from Quebec which had a smaller diameter.
We cleaned milk jugs from our recycle room and hung them up with nail and/or wire to keep them in place. This is something we need to improve on next year. Many of our jugs ended up blowing away and had to be replaced.
Collecting wasn't a problem - woshwagela here we go. Anyway, when Julian and co. collected sap it wasn't a problem. When the older school kids had chess club after school, I had to collect sap with my younger students. We had fun - it was a good experience for them (and for me:D). We stored the sap in the fridge till we had enough to boil down.
Next year, I think we need to start boiling it when we have about 40 gallons. It takes a long time to go through 20 pails (or 100 gallons) as our kettle in the canning basement only holds 35 gallons.
Boiling it down - there's loads of info on the net on how to do it. What you're doing is boiling the water out until there's only a certain percentage of sugar left. For our maples, there's apparently about 98% water, so 2% sugar. And seriously, don't believe anyone who tells you to bring it to a certain temperature. The temperature you bring it to depends on the boiling temperature of water and that is dependent on your elevation and atmospheric pressure.
So first thing you need to do is wait till it boils and then add 7.1 degrees in Fahrenheit, or 10 degrees Celsius. When it gets to that point it's technically syrup. I did find it better to add about 2 degrees Fahrenheit, so it was more syrupy, following the advice of this website:
http://girlsguidetobutter.com/2010/03/boiling-down-maple-syrup/
However, next year I would definitely invest in a hydrometer to measure the sugar content. Apparently 66 % sugar content is what you're striving for if you want 'real' syrup. I had issues with the last batch - I boiled it too long though we will still be able to enjoy the syrup.
All in all, that was an awesome experience that I definitely want to try again. Not to mention all the review (or introduction) the kids had to the grade 2 Science theme "Air and Water in the Environment".
We cleaned milk jugs from our recycle room and hung them up with nail and/or wire to keep them in place. This is something we need to improve on next year. Many of our jugs ended up blowing away and had to be replaced.
Collecting wasn't a problem - woshwagela here we go. Anyway, when Julian and co. collected sap it wasn't a problem. When the older school kids had chess club after school, I had to collect sap with my younger students. We had fun - it was a good experience for them (and for me:D). We stored the sap in the fridge till we had enough to boil down.
Next year, I think we need to start boiling it when we have about 40 gallons. It takes a long time to go through 20 pails (or 100 gallons) as our kettle in the canning basement only holds 35 gallons.
Boiling it down - there's loads of info on the net on how to do it. What you're doing is boiling the water out until there's only a certain percentage of sugar left. For our maples, there's apparently about 98% water, so 2% sugar. And seriously, don't believe anyone who tells you to bring it to a certain temperature. The temperature you bring it to depends on the boiling temperature of water and that is dependent on your elevation and atmospheric pressure.
So first thing you need to do is wait till it boils and then add 7.1 degrees in Fahrenheit, or 10 degrees Celsius. When it gets to that point it's technically syrup. I did find it better to add about 2 degrees Fahrenheit, so it was more syrupy, following the advice of this website:
http://girlsguidetobutter.com/2010/03/boiling-down-maple-syrup/
However, next year I would definitely invest in a hydrometer to measure the sugar content. Apparently 66 % sugar content is what you're striving for if you want 'real' syrup. I had issues with the last batch - I boiled it too long though we will still be able to enjoy the syrup.
All in all, that was an awesome experience that I definitely want to try again. Not to mention all the review (or introduction) the kids had to the grade 2 Science theme "Air and Water in the Environment".