Slow cooked syrup.

[John c]

I've been slow cooking a batch of syrup on my wood stove all weekend. I started it on Friday afternoon and intend on finishing it off tomorrow (Monday). I've just been adding sap to the pan whenever it needs it and I anticipate that by the end it will be about 35 gallons of sap cooked down. I've been doing this for the past few years now and this is usually the batch I keep for myself because it tastes the best.
I am wondering if there would be any concern if I were to keep it on the wood stove and just keep steaming off more sap for a whole week? The reason I am asking is because it never comes to a boil and I would hate for the batch to "spoil" somehow.

[highlandcattle]

When we first began many years ago this is what we did. Put a batch on the wood stove and kept adding sap. We had crazy work schedules and were building our farm so no time. The syrup may have a smoky taste but will be good. Experiment and have fun.

[KGodshall]

This is how I've been doing mine for several years now. Never had a problem and I don't have a smoky flavor (if I have smoke in the house, I have a bigger problem than funny tasting syrup..........)

[happy thoughts]

I've done this myself but never for a whole week. You'll probably be OK especially if boiled at the end, but one thing I'd check is the temp of the sap in the pan. A constant temp of 180*F and above should kill yeast, mold and most bacteria. Temps below 140F are ideal for active microbial growth. You could always bring the concentrated sap to boiling on the range every couple of days to decrease the number of organisms that may have had an opportunity to grow just so you don't lose sugar due to microbial growth.