Drilled taps union county

[Stupatterson]

Looks like good weather coming. Drilled 7 silver maples and 2 sugars yesterday and today. Wood shavings looked wet. Just a small hobby operation, but a very addicting hobby. Last year the silvers were running about 4 per cent. They get tons of sun which probably helps. First year for tapping the sugar maples. Found them out in the woods. Will be interesting to compare the taste of the two. Loved the light taste of the silvers last year.....

[Stupatterson]

Got about a quart from the 2 sugar maples today. Nothing from the silvers. Temp got a little above freezing and was sunny most of the day. Just a matter of time.

[Stupatterson]

Sap was dripping pretty good around 3 pm. Collected about a gallon from the 6 silver maples and about .5 from the two sugar maples. Just a small hobby op for fun. Boiled it down to about a quart and will store in freezer until I get enough to finish. They were all still producing when I left. All but one. The biggest healthiest one hasent given a drop. Produced very little last year as well.....

[Stupatterson]

Got another 1.5 gal from the silvers and about .5 from the sugars. Boiled everything down on a wood cook stove till it started smelling and tasting sweet. Got about 3 quarters gallon of concentrated sap. Will try to cook down over weekend on propane and hope to get a pint or so for some cinnamon French toast. Will probably never go big like some of you but is still a lot of fun on a small scale.

[Stupatterson]

Boiled down the concentrate from about 3.75 gal sap on propane and got about 14 oz of syrup. Darker then last year but that may be due to adding the sap from 2 sugar maples. We had some cinnamon French toast and licked the plates clean. I wonder if anyone has ever added cinnamon sticks to the boiling process to add some extra flavor...?

[Stupatterson]

Checked all trees around noon all but 2 were slowly dripping. At 5pm all were dripping heavily. Plan to some boiling tomorrow. It least to concentrate the sap and then freeze. Noticed someone on rt# 4 had some buckets out on trees near the road. If your reading, good luck.

[Stupatterson]

The biggest silver maple is now showing some green in the buds. Haven't noticed any off odor in the boiling but haven't collected from that particular tree for several days. Done collecting from the silvers and will probably pull all taps tomorrow. Will boil down any sap from the sugars but think I have had enough for this year. Will have close to a gallon of finished syrup in the freezer after finishing so should have enough to last me till around.......June?

[Stupatterson]

After all the smoke has cleared, I made about 135 oz of syrup. That was from 7 silver maples and 2 sugar maples. Did a separate boil of the two different trees but didn't notice a big difference in flavor. Each batch I finished was slightly different from others but all in all it seemed a waste of time and effort to keep things seperate. Next time, all sap goes in a common bucket. I did notice a difference in when the sap would run. There were days when the sugars would run but the silvers wouldn't. But when the silvers ran, they ran big time and the sugars ran good too. The sugars were smaller trees so they ran proportunately less. Excuse me as it is time for a desert pancake.......