Getting Started in Clayon

[JohnM]

I put in about 35 taps today. Nice weather!

This year I have about a third of my trees (neighbor's lot) on tubing and mainline into my backyard camp.

[ericjeeper]

We should have a pretty good run this weekend. I made 24 Quarts of "Hickory"syrup today. It is a good seller for me. I get 20 a quart. or 2 for 35

[JohnM]

So Eric, how do you make your Hickory syrup? Do you like it better than Maple??

[ericjeeper]

To make Hickory syrup, you remove some bark that is loose. Wash is, scrub it,Then I basically roast it on the rack in the oven at 350° for 30 minutes, then steep it.make a tea basically.. Then you filter out everything. To make a small batch you just use about a cup of tea then add sugar until you get the correct density of syrup. I started with six quarts of "tea" then proceeded to add 27 pounds of sugar. This yielded about 13 quarts. I used 2 pounds of brown sugar, the rest pure white cane sugar.
My wife prefers it over maple syrup. We use it to glaze ham.. Absolutely wonderful.
Today we will be making Maple syrup.