maple syrup book front page cover.JPG

So how long should it take for my maples to adjust to Daylight Saving's Time. It takes my spouse about 2 weeks
I wonder if that is why they haven't started running along the St Croix River in far northwest WI.

We are a 200 bucket, flat pan, old timey operation. Our gracefully aging 120 year old sugar maples drip sap leisurely from small tap holes into galvanized buckets, the sap exposed to the fresh Wisconsin air before being cooked in separate daily batches over a fire from wood that has died from natural causes, cooked to perfection as judged by human tasters, and then gravity filtered and hand bottled by extra virgin 4th generation Scandinavians, each batch having a distinctive flavor and color.

Our high tech neighbor's sap is wrenched from the trees by outrageously high vacuums into plastic leachable tubing then filtered by REVERSE Osmosis (yep they aren't even satisfied with regular osmosis) where it goes into giant oil fired evaporators and then mechanical pressure filters where diatomaceous is added and the resulting brew bottled automatically--having never been handled by loving human hands. Even worse is the syrup made by the Godless Socialist up there in Canada, eh? (--before you get angry, I might warn you I have sappy sense of humor and like to poke fun at those producers who don't get the added flavor of bugs in their sap)

Online sales my maple syrup history book that came out last year is picking up faster than the sap is flowing!

http://www.amazon.com/Making-Maple-S.../dp/146819089X

The book "Making Maple Syrup in the USA Since 1650 -- a Brief History" has lots of old recipes, historic photos, and early writings about sugaring. Did you know that Thomas Jefferson supported making Maple Sugar as an alternative to "slave" sugar from the south? Do you really know how native Americans made maples sugar?

My family showed up in CT in 1650 and claims to have been making syrup ever since-- CT, NY and since 1864 in Wisconsin. I am honored to be the recipient of the Original Family Maple Auger, handed down since 1655 to the most fitting "Maple Sap" exemplification of each generation. Although it was made and used by GGGGGGGreat Grandpa in 1655, the bit wore out and was replaced 15 times, and the auger itself initially made of all sugar maple, has had to be replaced 7 times--the last one being a Craftsman battery version.

Hope the saps are in the woods soon!