pasteurized sap

[BIGMAPLEFARM]

Good Afternoon,

New here with a few questions, second year, 20 taps.

1. How long do you have to boil it to increase it's shelf life

2. How long will it last

3. What temp to store it at.

Thanks Glenn

[mfchef54]

Boiling sap any longer than to 67-68 brix sugar will only give you less syrup and sugar crystals at the bottom. they say that if you bottle in plastic it will last at least year. I just found some that was three years old and is as fine as the day i made it. Glass two years and up. I knew a suggarer who passed away three years ago and yhis family is still bottling some of that syrup out of 30 gallon stainless steel drums.

[Beweller]

Milk is Pasteurized by heating to 145 F for 30 minutes and immediately cooling to 40 F.

Super Pasteurized milk is heated to about 300 F for about 10 seconds and immediately cooled.

Pasteurized milk kept at 40F is usable for about a week. Super Pasteurized milk can be kept at room temperature for perhaps several weeks, maybe longer.

If I were pasteurizing sap, I would heat it to the boiling point, hold it there for a few seconds and immediately cool to the lowest temperture I could achieve. The storage vessel must be sterile.

Pasteurization was invented by Louis Pasteur about 1860 as a method of preventing spoilage of wine.

Recognize that I am not a microbiologist.

[maple flats]

I think if that was possible you would need some expensive equipment to drop the temp fast enough. Why not just boil it and make syrup? Sap will keep several days if kept at 35, but gets real short life at 45. But good or bad sap as far as fresh goes still makes marketable syrup at any bulk buyer.

[Mac_Muz]

I use new glass Ball jars for long term storage. I boil any jars I will use for 10 minutes after I get a rapid boil going. Lids too, including the rings.

The syrup is boiling at the same time, and it takes 2 people, one to pour syrup as close to still boiling as possible, and the other to install lids and tighten caps.

[Clan Delaney]

This is just a gut feeling, but I'd bet that the energy needed to freeze an amount of sap (not to mention the space needed) is going to outweigh any benefit of having unspoiled sap to boil past it's natural expiration date. The best way to store sap, is as syrup. :)

[PerryW]

I would think that bringing sap to a boil just for a minute or two would be enough to kill all the bacteria. At least that's the theory I use when I run my evaporator. (I.E. I try to completely empty my storage tank and bring the back pan to a boil so the sap will keep longer until I get more sap.)

Then you should cool the sap as quickly as possible by shoveling snow around the containers (or other means) and keeping them in the shade.

If you treat sap, like you would milk (keep it as cool as possibly or at least refrigerator temperatures), you will get better syrup.

You also have to worry that if you have a real cold snap, having your sap in a huge block of ice can be problematic too.

Of course, the best solution it to boil it up as fast as possible.

[BIGMAPLEFARM]

Thank you folks, I guess I worded my question wrong. What I was trying to find out was how long do I have to boil the sap to extend its shelf life in between boils and ho cold do i have to keep it.

[Beweller]

Bigmaple,

There is nothing wrong with your question.

[PerryW]

how long do I have to boil the sap to extend its shelf life in between boils

I always figure just bringing it to a boil for a few minutes kills the bacteria.

and ho cold do i have to keep it.

The colder the better. My evaporator just sits there in the sugarhouse between boils. It would really not be practical for me, but I suppose you could refrigerate it if you had a smaller rig.


Of course, I'm usually more worried about sap in the pans freezing, so I always boil it down as much as possible before going into a deep freeze.

[Beweller]

The best way is to use a counter flow heat exchanger between the source, storage and heater. The cold sap coming in is heated by the hot sap coming out--and the hot sap is cooled by the cold sap coming in.

This greatly reduces the amount of heat required and thus the size of the heater. Most of the cooling is done, and the sap may be cool enough to store or you might finish with an air cooled heat exchanger.