First success!!!

[Murphy's Law]

I harvested 5 gallons of sap over the past 36 hours and I, along with my grandson, made our first ever maple syrup last night. It turned out wonderful. When he wakes up this morning we are going to have sourdough pancakes with OUR OWN maple syrup. We have about 1/2 of a pint mason jar waiting for us on the kitchen table.

I'm not completely satisfied with the clarity of the finished product. It is a light golden brown color but it is also a bit cloudy. Since we do not have any sophisticated filtering equipment I used a cotton flour sack towel to strain the sap into the evaporator pot and again when pouring the syrup into the jar. Do you think my filtering method is to blame for the cloudiness?

My grandson helped me all the way through the process. He just turned 7 and for the first time (at least for me) he has actually been interested in something like this. He enjoyed finding and marking the maple trees last summer as well as finding them again last week to tap. He lives about 30 miles from us so he was not able to check the buckets each day but he jumped right in when he got here yesterday morning to set up the turkey fryer burner and the stock pot evaporator. The poor kid nearly froze to death but he stuck with it. Last night when he was settling into his bed on our couch he told me he really had a good time and wants to do it more. Oh what a good feeling to entertain and teach a kid without a cell phone or some type of electronic device. Today life is good.

[happy thoughts]

Well that brought a smile to my face:) Those pancakes are going to taste great!

Your filtering method didn't cause the cloudiness but it won't clear it up either. If you're going to filter, you need a proper one made for syrup. Absent that, if you had more time you could just let it sit in the jar or bottle. The solids will eventually settle out and you can pour off and use the clear stuff.

Here's to lots more loving memories for you and your grandson! Enjoy those pancakes:)

[Ausable]

Hi Murphy - What you see in Your Maple Syrup is a little Nitre or Sugar Sand and it will settle to the bottom of the jar if given a chance - LOL - But I think You and Your Grandson will make history of it before then. It will settle on the bottom - just like sediment on a bottle of home-made wine - you just leave it behind when you decant it. As You read the posts you will learn all the little tricks to eliminate nitre ---- But You made Maple Syrup and that is good - congratulations ---Mike-

[maple flats]

Murphy, that is what great memories are made of. Your grandson will remember this time you spend with him fondly the rest of his life. My grandson still talks about a similar time from the 2003 season (he was 8) as I got into maple again. That year I had a Half Pint evaporator and he helped me tap. I had 5 gal buckets and many taps were on little 1 bucket tubing systems. Some were 2 or 3 taps on one large tree and others were 2 adjacent trees connected by tubing. On one tree I had 2 taps going in and I made up a line with a tap at each end. We drilled the tree and set each tap. Then I got the tee and line ready to install to drain it into the bucket. The sap was running good that day and when I cut the line from tap to tap, my grandson was close to see it it dripped, well when I cut the tube it squirted and hit my grandson in the face. He was VERY surprised as was I. He now helps me often, installing tubing, tapping, collecting, boiling and canning. We truly enjoy each other's company. Next year he goes to college. He has already announced that he will have lots more time to help set tubing and tap between Christmas and spring breaks. He has even chosen a college close enough so he can help on weekends.
Your grandson may well fall in love with maple as mine has.

[jim finen]

yes thats what it is all about! I can remember I was in "CUB SCOUTS" and me dad made our first evaporator in the driveway..lol Thats something I will NEVER forget. Some 30 years later it seems like last season...Thank you DAD!

[PapaSmiff]

Murphy's Law,
Four years ago, I started sugaring to show my then 7-year old grandson how it was done. He thought it was just about the greatest thing ever. He was into learning about science and nature at the time. We had made syrup every year for the past three years.

This year, he's upset that we can't make syrup because we are in the middle of moving and our trees were severely damaged in October. Keep up the good work. He'll remember this forever.

[backyard sugaring]

Murphy the memories you will have with your Grandson will last a lifetime not just with you, but with him. My daughter who is ten yesterday asked me to take her to Harbor Freight she bought a wagon to transport sap. It should be noted she used her own money. We now have an evaporator, the children will ask if we can light a fire in the pit and make syrup the old fashion way of course we bring out the marshmellows. Good luck. Lee

[Murphy's Law]

Wow! I'm glad my post made some fond memories for you guys. In our crazy mixed up world today it's good to take little mental trips back to good times.

[wnybassman]

I think it's great to keep up the heritage of making something yourself. That is getting more and more lost these days. That's perhaps the biggest reason I started making syrup years ago (not to mention how fun it is). Sure, I could have saved a lot of money over the years if I just bought syrup, but that wasn't the point. It's the same reason we do a lot of gardening and canning as well and maybe even the same reason why I have dove head first into making my own jigs and pouring my own soft plastics for my fishing too. It's great to stand back and say "Yeah, I did that!"