Ice in Sap

[Troutman10]

Just wondering if I can discard any Ice that forms in my buckets or bags as the weather gets below freezing? Thanks for any help!

[Ausable]

Hey Troutman - That is up to You. One of those things that I have done both ways. On a year when sap is scarce I boil sap ice cause it still has a little sugar in it. On a year when the sap is really flowing I pitch it because the sugar content is low in sap ice. LOL - this is one of those subjects that has been argued back and forth for years..... Make lots of the good stuff ---Mike---

[happy thoughts]

If it's not too thick, a lot of the long timers toss it. Some call it nature's RO since the first stuff that freezes is mostly water. I personally don't collect enough sap to give up a drop of it:) Besides, it helps keep the sap cold if you need to store it.

[jimmol]

I tested this out this year with some early taps and found that with 8 samples, throwing the ice out increased the sugar content 1% on the average. With a hard freeze one batch went from 1.5 to 4.3.

But as others have said, there is sugar in the ice and I found it runs from .2 to .8 percent, so you are throwing out some potential syrup.