Newbie..Very dark syrup central Indiana.

[JUG]

Greetings!. I tapped 3 or 5 trees last year and made 24oz just boiling on my stove. This year I build a filing cabinet evap thing and tapped 20 trees. Yesterday I collected 8 gallons and used my evaporator for the first time. When I was down to roughly 2 gallons I put the sap into a smaller pan and finished it off inside. I ended up with a 14oz or so of syrup. The syrup is very dark, almost like molasses. It has the right consistency and taste pretty good. It seems to have a buttery flavor thats a little different than I am used. Despite being really dark there is no crystallization. Could it be I just tapped too early and I am getting poor quality sap? Am I making batches that are too small? Any advice would be appreciated. 1286012861

[Andrew Franklin]

Hi Jug, my trees are in northern Monroe county, and my first batch was also dark, unlike the past couple of years. If the flavor is good I wouldn't worry too much about it being dark. Heading down to the property now hoping to find some sap to keep my busy boiling tonight!

[JUG]

Hi Jug, my trees are in northern Monroe county, and my first batch was also dark, unlike the past couple of years. If the flavor is good I wouldn't worry too much about it being dark. Heading down to the property now hoping to find some sap to keep my busy boiling tonight!

Thanks for the input. Thats good to know.

[Snappyssweets]

Red, Silver, Sugar, or Japanese Maples?

I have mostly Reds here in Central Michigan and I have dark syrup all the time. One thing I really like about it is the buttery flavor it has to it.
Silver and Sugar tend to give off more lighter finished product from what I seen of those I know around me who have done this a while. My official second year its just too much fun though. No matter have fun once you do this its worse then drugs. LOL

[bigschuss]

That's the coolest homemade outdoor rig I've seen in a long time. Not sure why your syrup is dark....could be many things as others have commented. Also, often when you batch boil the syrup ends up dark.

[JUG]

Mostly reds as well, probably 60%. I have some japansese maples but I heard it they were not worth the time to tap. Is your syrup that dark? Mine syrup is also very buttery.

[RileySugarbush]

Sometimes if the sap sits around a while before boiling it can make dark syrup. Dark syrup can be great! Enjoy it!

[TerryEspo]

Looks delicious !! Enjoy :)