Off Topic; It is 'spring' again?

[ArtR 0]

As with other years, when Spring comes, even very early Spring, maple trees wake up and spread their wealth. Starting February 10th, I have been trekking back and forth between my home and my nephews, as he does part of his 'job' producing one of Vermont's favorite products: 100% Pure Vermont Maple Syrup. Some of you may not know it, but Vermont Maple Syrup is Special! All other maple syrup, produced in any US state or Canada,  is boiled to 66BRIX or 66% sugar content. Vermont Maple Syrup, by state regulation, must be boiled to 66.9BRIX or 66.9% sugar content. That makes Vermont Maple nearly 1% sweeter than any other. That takes more time and money, but due to outside pressures, we end up selling our product for about the same as others. Anyway, we boiled for the first time this year on February 12th, and then we had a cold spell, and now the trees are awake again and we boiled again yesterday. However, as some of you are aware, the seasons have been unusual and unpredictable, and this year is no exception. Besides being early, it has been very warm. I understand February has been 2% warmer than any previous one. Temps in the 60's is totally unheard of. And, starting tomorrow, March may be similar. We here have day time temps forecast to be in the 50's for the next 5 days, with overnight lows not dropping below freezing. This is not conducive to making syrup. We need warm daytime temps 35-45 and overnight lows well below freezing. The freezing and thawing is what makes the sap flow for a long time, allowing a good production year. Long term high temps causes the trees to push buds in preparation to leaf out. That changes the sap, the flavor of the syrup changes, and ends the season. Right now, we are hoping for the best.

Cheers and enjoy Real Maple Syrup on you pancakes, waffles, drizzled over ice cream or pie, and in your coffee.

ArtR

[Rarecat 0]

It's snowing today in the Cascades of WA State.   Love real Maple Syrup!

[tinsoldier 0]

Don't forget the maple sugar candy!

[ArtR 0]

If you are a fan of maple candy, you might also like maple creme....a spreadable product that is great on toast, 'donuts' and as my kids like, 'cupcakes'/

[tinsoldier 0]

1 hour ago, ArtR said:

If you are a fan of maple candy, you might also like maple creme....a spreadable product that is great on toast, 'donuts' and as my kids like, 'cupcakes'/

As kids in the early 70's, that was one of the highlights of our camping trips to New Hampshire & Vermont... I remember a little shop in North Conway, NH, that specialized in maple syrup and candy made by the locals.  Unfortunately, these days I'm trying to stay on the pre-diabetic side of things.  But a lot of great memories OD'ing on that stuff!

[ArtR 0]

BTW: We boiled 8000 gallons of sap on 2/12 and made 110 gallons and again on 2/28 we boiled 6800 gallons sap and made 152 gallons. We are off to a good start. 

Why the disparity in yield between the first boil and the second?

First is the difference in the sap sweetness. Our first sap tested 1.4BRIX, or 1.4% sugar content. The second boil, the sap tested 1.8BRIX or 1.8% sugar. At 2BRIX or 2% sugar. it takes about 44 gallons of sap to make 1 gallon of syrup.

Secondly, during the first boil, we start with a totally empty evaporator, and when done, there is still concentrated sap and almost syrup in the evaporator pans. We estimate there is about 27 gallons of syrup that could still be made, if we boiled all that was in the pans and cleaned them up. We do not do that every boil as it is a time and labor intensive process.

On the first boil of the season, it takes  about 1.5 hours before we draw off the first syrup. Each boil thereafter, until we 'sugar off', it is only takes about 20 minutes before we draw off syrup, due to the  already 'sweet pans'.

As today it was too  cold, (still freezing), and no sap flowed,  we visited our local equipment/supplies dealer in Cabot, VT this morning, to pick up some containers and some repair parts. They were just starting to boil for the first time this year. They had 16,000 gallons of sap to process. They estimated that they would make about 300 gallons of syrup from that sap.  They tap about 25000 trees at that facility. They have a totally new, larger, fully state of the art facility in Eden, VT about 55 miles away, where they tap nearly 125,000 trees.

They make about 55 times more syrup than we make each year.

If you live in an area where Maple Syrup is made, visit your local sugar house. Most will welcome visitors.

[ArtR 0]

Since I last reported, Mar 1, we have boiled 5 more times...March 3rd and 4th for 92 & 60 gallons respectively, and also Mar 6th and 7th for 120 & 75 gallons respectively. Today we boiled again after a beautiful sunshine day yesterday where sap flowed at a rate of 620 gallons per hour. Sugar content was down to 1.7%, but we collected and processed it through the RO and made 100 gallons today. 65 gallons was put into barrels and 35 gallons was packed into quart and pint bottles/jugs. This brings us to about 708 gallons for the year, which is  48% of an average crop year for us.

 

[matconcrete 0]

Hope the weather cooperates with you, like many over here in the “almost as sweet” state of Maine , so much rides on the weather.

[ArtR 0]

We boiled again on the 10th, and made another 99 gallons, for a total of 808 gallons. This was the first time this year that we had 'niter' forming on the pans. Not a good sign for season longevity. Then Sunday night it froze up and was frozen through Tuesday. Tuesday it thawed some, but not much and we only hauled 1000 gallons sap. Tuesday night it froze again, and finally thawed on Wednesday, and by 1PM, we were able to start hauling again, getting 3000 more gallons sap. Unfortunately, I had to leave to attend a Dr appointment back home. Call in the reserve crew, and they will arrive tomorrow. We expect to have 4000 plus gallons of sap. Again, unfortunately, we are noticing some cloudiness in the sap. This too does not spell a longer season. More as it happens.

[ArtR 0]

Mar 19 Update: Things have frozen up here. Mother nature has reared her ugly head to remind us that winter is not over with. We woke to 24F, 1" of fresh fluffy snow, and snow was still falling lightly. I looked for a photo of the sugar house, and found one from last year. Not the best, but gives an idea where I have been "working" off and on since Feb 10. We broke 1200 gallons on Sunday, and yesterday, while sap did not run much, we hauled 4000 gallons that had run Sunday and Sunday night. The sap tested very low in sugar, 1.1%, but we processed it through the RO yesterday, and as it was getting colder, we decided not to boil until today.  We expect to get maybe 50+ gallons syrup today, which might bring our year total to over 1280 gallons. Meanwhile, I sip my morning coffee, sweetened by natures finest, Vermont Maple Syrup.

[camstuff 0]

It seems our area can’t make up its mind if it’s spring or winter yet either. You do have it worse in Vermont so I’m not complaining.  Like reading about your progress. 

[ArtR 0]

As we are in for several days of cold weather, we decided to draw the back pan down as low as we could during the boil, and we ended up making 85 gallons of syrup, bringing our year total to 1321 gallons. I will try and post a couple inside sugar house photos.

[ArtR 0]

A few photos of the maple sugar operation March 19th:

My nephew, Eric, watching the boil, at command central. He has valves there to control flow of sap into the evaporator, and from the back pans to the front pans, and onto the thermostatically controlled auto draw off valve (gray box to his left). Once syrup is drawn off, a filter aid is added and it is then pumped through a filter press and on into the barrels. While most of his syrup goes into 40gal barrels, occasionally, as he needs it, he will pump some to a canning station, where he can can gallon and smaller containers.

 

View from outside the sugarhouse, during the boil, showing water vapor from the evaporator. Notice the lack of visible smoke from the smoke stack, as it burns so cleanly. Also the wood pile, 30" pieces of mixed hardwood. He cuts, splits, and stacks approximately 10 cords of wood for an average sugar season. In this photo, we are down to the last two rows of wood.

 

One of the  now 31 barrels of syrup, stored in the new addition, with overhead door. Each barrel is labeled with a production sequence number (blue tape) which will coincide with a sample bottle and barrel serial number, for the packing house. A full barrel weighs about 488#.

Sap, concentrated by the RO from 2% or less sugar content to 10-11%, flows into the evaporator during this boil at 7.5 gallons per minute..

The temperature of the fire during the boil is roughly 2000F, and the temperature of the flue stack is 1000F.

[Joseph Scott 0]

Thank you for sharing these awesome photos and the information on the maple syrup process.  Very informative and quite overwhelming to think of that much sap and that many trees!  WOW!!!

 

 

[camstuff 0]

Seriously, I think this should be an episode on “How It’s Made”.  The process is pretty interesting.  Thanks for sharing. 

[ArtR 0]

Thanks, Joe and Torrey,

Maple Syrup is in our family genes. My grandfather was making maple syrup/sugar back in 1921 and probably earlier, per my dad's diaries. While on a considerably smaller operation, he tapped maybe 1000-1200 trees, using buckets and a horse drawn tank. The old sugar house still stands today, but is close to falling down. My dad and 2 of his brothers also made maple syrup.

As I have pointed out, my nephew's operation is quite small compared to some larger operations both here, and in Quebec. To date, we have trucked 68500 gallons of sap to make the 1321 gallons of syrup. That is roughly 52 gallons of sap for each gallon of syrup. To put that sap to syrup into perspective, think about Quebec which produced some 8 Million gallons (US) in 2022, and Vermont produced some 2.5 Million gallons (US) in 2022.

This year alone, we have burned nearly 7 cords of wood to make 1300 gallons syrup.

When you, your family or others pour maple syrup onto your waffles/pancakes/whatever, do not waste it and wash it down the sink. Think of it as the precious commodity that it is.

[ArtR 0]

My grandfathers sugarhouse, in 1929, showing the horse drawn  sled in Feb 1929, as they prepared for the sugar season.

 

Gathering sap from trees with pails, and dumping into tank on horse drawn sled, again 1929.

My grandfathers "arch" as the firebox and pans were called, 1929.

 

My oldest brother standing in front of the old sugarhouse, in 2006. He lived on the farm and  "helped" dad and grandpa sugar, until the farm was sold in 1945. He died March 22, 2022, while we were sugaring.

 

[matconcrete 0]

  That is quite a family history, I am certain I could smell the photo of the steam coming off the evaporator.

 Sweet story.

[ArtR 0]

Yesterday was a totally crazy day, weather wise. We woke to about 1/2" white fluffy stuff, and about 24F. As the day progressed, it warmed, the sun came out, and the snow melted. But, all day, we had off and on snow flurries & squalls. While not much for accumulation, it was totally crazy, and it was not until about 3PM and 47F, that the 'trees woke" (came out of freezing) and sap began to flow. We quickly began the process of trucking sap and running through the RO. At about 6PM, another squall came through, temps dropped drastically, and snow fell, to the tune of 2" in a very short time. By 7PM, the sap began to freeze up and stopped flowing, By 9PM it was 27F, and this morning, it was 14F. We managed to get 3000 gallons of 1.1% sap, which we plan to boil about 10AM today. I am sipping my coffee, and my nephew just headed off to a town meeting. He is on the local selectboard. He will turn on the gas heater in the sugar house, and I will go down about 9AM and begin getting the evaporator ready for the days boil.

I had skimmed through this diatribe, and realized that I missed another 'maple syrup' tid-bit. Maple sap is boiled until it reaches 7 degrees above 212F boiling water under perfect atmospheric conditions, I.E., 219F. However, nothing is ever perfect, and we must adjust for atmospheric pressure each day. The thermostatically controlled auto draw off valve (gray box to his left) in the photo, allows him to adjust the draw off temp for the syrup up or down by 10ths of a degree.  As syrup is drawn off, it is tested with a hydrometer (tested and certified by Vermont Department of Agriculture) to assure that the syrup being made is 66.9BRIX. The secret is not to draw off syrup that is light on sugar. It is okay to draw off a bit heavy, as then we can mix in some lighter syrup, from the pans, to bring the syrup to the correct density. A delicate balancing game, hence, the close attention that he pays to the draw off location, and all the valves, thermometers, and such. He seldom walks away from that position, until things are all pretty much dialed in. In the meantime, myself, or others, are there to feed firewood, adjust air flow fans, exhaust fans, opening and closing vents, filling defoamer fluid (organic oil which breaks surface tension and keeps boil bubbles smaller), moving empty and full barrels, or whatever else needs to be done.  Never a dull moment during an average boil.

Time now to get dressed and "head off to work!" Ha ha.

[ArtR 0]

Yesterday, we boiled the sap that we had, and managed to make about 40 gallons maple syrup, but the results were questionable. While sweet, it had an off aroma and flavor. While our packer will purchase, we are in hopes that we will not get dinged to heavily on quality/price.

After the boil, based upon the weather forecast, I drove home, for the weekend, to be available to plow/blow snow. The current forecast is for 12-20 inches in my area, 12-24" at the sugarhouse.

Mother Nature has rolled in for sure, rearing her ugly head, and reminding us that winter is not yet over. Overnight, the temps at our sap collection station dropped to 4F. The wind blew most all day yesterday and today is much calmer. With cold weather and a storm looming, we are in hopes that the trees may recharge. However, normally, when we detect any change in flavor or aroma, that marks the end of the season. We will know for sure, either Monday or Tuesday, when sap may flow again, and we get a chance to check and test what becomes available.

[WHIG 0]

Thank you, also, Art for so much wonderful and educational information. Not many families have enjoyed so much hard work and history as you have discussed. Your brother died doing this amazing work which is probably just what he would have wanted. I'm sure you have great memories of working with him. Those old family photos are amazing also.

Do you have younger family members who will carry on this work into the future? Thanks again!

[ArtR 0]

Thanks WHIG. Sugaring for me is fun, and describing what we do is sort of part of the job. Visitors often come to the sugarhouse totally unaware as to what we do, Giving tours and describing the operation is sort of second nature.

While I cannot guarantee it, my nephew's oldest daughter, who is away at college, has worked in the sugar house for many years, and during COVID, was invaluable as his replacement. I have worked with her on numerous boils and would trust her implicitly with the operation. She has worked with her dad with all parts of the operation, from tapping, to gathering sap with the truck,  to running the RO, to boiling, canning, labeling, shipping,  and pulling taps. Will she? That is anyone's guess, but she can and might continue in his shoes. His other daughter has just started to help in the operation. I have another nephew, who also sugars, but on a much smaller scale, mostly as a hobby. Again, who knows. He might decide that he would like to expand as well.

As for my brother, we have a saying. Sugarmakers do not die, they just evaporate away.

[BBBQ 0]

Very interesting to see the process, thanks for sharing!

[WHIG 0]

Sugaring. Sugarhouse. Sugarmakers. Nice family business. I hope none of you guys are diabetic. 

[ArtR 0]

Hi Whig and others.

Sadly, my other brother died this past Sunday. He was 78, and had been ill for some time, CHF, also a diabetic. While sad, he lived a full life, and always wanted to be kept abreast of the sugar operation. We would chat almost daily about the years progress. He will be missed by me, my four sisters, his family,  and all the crew at the sugarhouse.

I returned to the sugarhouse today, after my nephew called stating that he had already hauled 3000 gallons yesterday and stated that there was nearly 3000 gallons at 7AM and another 1000 would be available by noon. After the sap was processed, we lit a fire at 1:40PM and had a fairly smooth boil, making 145 gallons, all put into barrels, and we were all cleaned up and out of the sugarhouse by 7:15PM. The sap was so-so, and the quality was okay, but slightly off flavor.  Our total now is 1508 gallons. We have officially exceeded an average years production. Sap did run some today, and currently it appears we will have a very short boil on Thursday.

For those wondering, packing houses will still buy off flavor syrup. They have many uses for it, but only up to a certain level, they will not ding us on price.