VerHageFamily
03-21-2016, 12:43 PM
Well, I got a late start for my first year. This hobby may become more addicting than hunting or fishing. We ending up only tapping a Norway Maple in my backyard (Silver already budded by the time I tapped and no sap ran) even though I marked a few sugar maples on my grandfathers property in Orange County NY. I will definitely tap more trees next year. My backyard backs up to the rear of an elementary school and they have already approached my wife and I if we can incorporate maple syruping into a lesson for the kids next year. In return we can tap the school trees (They have a wooded section) and they are going to try to get grant money to pay for more supplies for us. Whatever we need. I already know I need a second burner. I only have a turkey fryer. and my buy a double burner. Fortunately one of my family businesses in sheet metal and I plan on making a pan for next year.
As far as the syrup. I hope next year to have more sap so I can try and boil longer. My wife and I were afraid to burn the little we had (only collected 7 1/2 gallons in 3 days). It tastes good, but when is went to a rapid boil and started to foam we stopped thinking we were burning it. Hopefully next year was can explore a little more.
This year was an awesome learning experience and I can see this getting expensive.
As far as the syrup. I hope next year to have more sap so I can try and boil longer. My wife and I were afraid to burn the little we had (only collected 7 1/2 gallons in 3 days). It tastes good, but when is went to a rapid boil and started to foam we stopped thinking we were burning it. Hopefully next year was can explore a little more.
This year was an awesome learning experience and I can see this getting expensive.