The Official 2023 Maple Syrup Thread

Nice color I haven't seen any moths here yet, but I noticed earlier this week that ants were on the trees and trying to get into my sap jugs. The red maples are starting to bud so I'll probably pull the taps on them. Sugar maples still seem fine.

 

Sounds familiar. Except no ants..we get these little nat flies all over in the sap filter !
I forsee pulling our reds this week as well....run the sugar maples another week ..or maybe more !

Sounds like you have a handle on things pretty good ! I just hope your having fun !

 

Really cool thread! The sap is running pretty good in VT. We passed a few semi clear tanks Friday evening on our way up. Yesterday afternoon, they were much fuller.

 

Everything that is froze..is not maple ! That's depressing lol. Nature RO'd it for you !

 

I was wondering about that, easy enough to pick the ice chunks out.

 

Absolutely! When we get ice in our sap sacks...we just leave it. For one...its not time efficient to take the bags out of the holder. Second...we see it as nature helping us keep the sap refrigerated..till we collect.
With the RO it's no big deal. If we had old school buckets...id chuck the ice. Every little bit helps !!

 

Beautiful syrup ! Great color !!

 

Nice and light..beautiful!!!

 

Great looking syrup !

 

Looking great!!

 

That's a great setup right there !!!

 

Great pic..makes me want to get out there right now !

 

Show off those shiny pans !!! Awesome steam !

 

I added a preheater, and am pleasantly surprised- it gets the sap from 35 degrees up to 90 degrees. Leaving it running at a trickle, running the pan at about half to 3/4”.

 

I'd love to see how you did that ! Been thinking of doing something that that on ours too. Same preheater pan !
Great results !!!

 

It is just the Leader Half Pint pan, sits on top of the main pan, has tabs tacked on the bottom to keep it from shimming off. It was a bit of an extravagance, and I was afraid it was more gimmicky, too. Dad has been helping and thought it would help, and I don’t have a lot of years left to sugar with him, so I got it.

Bascom’s is within 30 minutes of here, and our feed store a mile down the road carries basic Leader supplies at the catalog price.

 

I’m not sure how much this is, but it’s not a bad haul. The third jar is a little empty because I decided to top off another (already opened) small jar that was halfway gone. If not for that, it would’ve filled all four of these jars perfectly.

 

How's the taste?

 

Hands down the best batch so far. Out of this world, especially when it’s still warm off the stove.