Backyard sugaring 3/12/11

Usually a lot of snow late in the season is not a good thing. But this year all the lingering snow got my attention. I noticed the maple in my back yard dripping a lot of sap. So I decided to see if I could make syrup out of it. I was hesitant at first but after a week of collecting the sap and a nice sunny 5 hours on Saturday the end result was truly worth it.

Once I tapped the old maple sap came gushing out. I used what ever I had around the house to contain it. I read some articles and the book Pa bought me and prepared myself for an experiment on the weekend.

When the sap came out it resemble water. Colorless , odorless, tasteless - really just like water. As you boil , the color , taste , smell and viscosity all changes.

I was lucky to have Pa there all day to help out. It was a first for the both of us - and we each had equal parts of turning the sap into syrup.