Syrup so far

[highlandcattle]

Well from Ron's 6 taps he's made 3 quarts of light syrup. He's getting enough sap to boil and keep him busy. Improvising for such a tiny operation. We left everything when we sold the farm. Just ran to the hardware store to pick up an Orlon filter. These trees produce alot of sugar sand. Someone needs to thonk of something to do with that. When we had the farm, i just threw the used filters in the woodstove.

[Galena]

...These trees produce alot of sugar sand. Someone needs to thonk of something to do with that....

Sugar sand is good ol potassium nitrate, also known as saltpetre, which was once an ingredient in the making of gunpowder. Maybe some local re-enactment group would be interested in loading their muskets with it?

Or...perhaps more feasibly...collect it, dry it, powder it up a bit more and find some kind of hypoallergenic substance (maybe coconut oil? just not something synthetic like vaseline)and make a DIY facial scrub. It's slightly abrasive so it would make an excellent exfoliant, and it's all-natural and probably pretty shelf-stable (but don't take my word for it, do your research). Get some cute little jars and labels, mark it up like 300% and you're off to the races :-)

So there you go, either blow something up with it or make a skin scrub. You're welcome :-)

[ecolbeck]

Potassium nitrate? I don’t think so.

It’s mostly calcium malate.

http://www.uvm.edu/~pmrc/scale.pdf

[Sinzibuckwud]

One a day maple mineral supplements.

[highlandcattle]

I knew i'ld get some good responses! Yes,scrape it into fancy jars with a pretty label and charge as stupid price. Like sap water! Yup,I said that.