2020 Missouri activity

[Goggleeye]

It’s all up to you. Keep collecting until the trees quit giving or you don’t like the flavor.

[bprifle01]

Love the photos! The first photo in your last post is of the flowers or seed buds. Not to worry about those. The second photo is of leaf buds. When those pop, you will notice an off flavor. The leaf buds are usually two to three weeks behind the flowers, depending on the weather.

[unclejohn]

If you're worried about the quality of this next batch of syrup, bring a small pot of sap into the kitchen and boil it down, see how it tastes. That might avoid a whole lotta work. (Some folks still take budding syrup, and even though it has an off taste, use if for sweetening when baking, cooking, etc, rather than as a pancake syrup)

[unclejohn]

We last harvested on Sunday 2/2 when it was 65 degrees here in midMo. Some sap ran into our bags/buckets after harvest, and sat there on the 74 degree Monday; as we didn't have time to harvest again while managing the boil. Then the temps got down to 40 degrees or so that night, and below freezing for several nights. I was concerned that some of that sap had spoiled, especially the sap sacks exposed to direct sunlight on that warm day. So yesterday I broke ice chunks in about 10 bags/buckets and collected a few gallons of sap. Brought it home and boiled it down in the kitchen, and nothing was cloudy, the syrup tastes fine, has good color. So I don't have to dump the bags/buckets. And the trees should be running today; sunny with snow on the ground, temps heading from 25 degrees up to 35!

[JayTee]

It’s all up to you. Keep collecting until the trees quit giving or you don’t like the flavor.

Thanks Goggleeye. I think between that thought and that of unclejohn below, I have some good guidance. REALLY want to get more than 2-/12 pints of syrup this year, especially as my mom and my grown children want some! And it SOOOO good. <grin>

Love the photos! The first photo in your last post is of the flowers or seed buds. Not to worry about those. The second photo is of leaf buds. When those pop, you will notice an off flavor. The leaf buds are usually two to three weeks behind the flowers, depending on the weather.

Thanks! I used my Nikon D3500, 70-300mm Zoom Lens - 1/640 Sec, f6.3, 300mm for the flowers/seed buds; 1/2000 Sec, f6, 260mm for the leaf buds. If you're interested in that kind of thing! Sounds like I could have another 2-3 weeks of sugaring? Maybe even enough to get tired of boiling down on my propane burner. <grin>

If you're worried about the quality of this next batch of syrup, bring a small pot of sap into the kitchen and boil it down, see how it tastes. That might avoid a whole lotta work. (Some folks still take budding syrup, and even though it has an off taste, use if for sweetening when baking, cooking, etc, rather than as a pancake syrup)

I'll try that tomorrow, from one of the trees that really has flower buds popping. Drinking that sap from one of those still tasted pretty good.

Thanks to all for the assistance. I'm getting more knowledge about my new hobby all the time. Already have a trip planned for mid-end January 2021 . . . that might interfere with sugaring next season! Have to be sure I have everything clean and ready before I leave on my trip.

John

[oldcabin]

Hello all, after the big haul I had end of Jan, the first week of Feb was lighter, but was still able to male about 2/3 a gallon of great color syrup.

To go over the cloudy syrup a bit, some of the folks that do not produce a lot, like me, may run in to this. I collect when I can, and mainly boil in my evaporator on the weekends. I refrigerate as best I can, I hope for cooperative weather, and I boil weekly. I fliter several times throughout the process. I usually toss off color sap. Maybe I am wrong for that
Point is, I usually batch boil down on the wood fired evaporator as best I can, then it gets refrigerated for kitchen finishing and additional filtering later in the week.
I got the cloudy finished syrup the one week I finished in the kitchen right after the evaporator. I may have helped squish syrup through the filter a bit too.
I have found that by letting the sap settle a day or so before I do a final kitchen stove finish, I end up with sediment at the bottom, and can usually keep most of that from getting in the final step.
I made sure to let it settle this week, and I did double filter this and the last batch again. I got great results. I let the filter gravity drain and did not squish it through. I have found that letting my honey settle before bottling gets the sediment out too.
Passing info along if it helps.

[Jjuhl54]

Checked 24 taps today and got 65 gallons and no squirrels this time

[unclejohn]

Processed 250 gallons of sap into 6.5 gallons of beautiful dark syrup. Had so much sap that our kitchen couldn't handle it, so we are storing about 85 gallons of sap outside through this deep freeze, then will boil it along with our upcoming final harvest after the weekend thaw. Good luck to all! John

[220 maple]

John,
I've been following along when ever I get a chance, appears your having a great season, I'm off to a great start myself and don't have all the trees open yet, only 230 behind the camp on the mountain where you and your wife visited last summer, hope to get another 200 plus added tomorrow, I have 1700 plus open on land I lease, when I get a chance I will seen you some videos, Happy Sugaring

Mark 220 Maple

[unclejohn]

Mark thanks for the message. Still collecting names to build the Missouri network of syrupmakers. I hope your sap flows well for you in West Virginia! John