Sugar Season 2017

   

   This was our 7th year processing maple sap into syrup and sugar! The idea of tapping our maple trees had never crossed my mind until we visited a local event where they were demonstrating it. When we got home, Dad said "let's tap our maple trees!" My first thought was; What? We don't have anything to do that with! But then again... if Dad thinks we can figure this out... let's do it! And so we did! For make-shift taps Dad took copper pipe and cut it into 3-4 inch lengths, drilled a hole in our front maple tree, tapped the pipe in and hung a milk jug from the piping! And that was that, the beginning of a new family farm tradition! Over the years we have invested in more "sophisticated" equipment. Including real taps, hoses, 5 gallon buckets and this 20 gallon boiling pan.

One extra cold morning the sap had turned to ice in the buckets!  

When it is getting close to done, we bring it in the house to finish it on the stove.

  I made a batch of syrup into a sugar. Here are some pictures from that process...

 Boiling the syrup into granulated sugar is a bubbly, hot job, that requires constant stirring, so it doesn't burn or boil over!

At one point it looked kinda like I had a big pot of boiling peanut butter! ↑  

And here it is...  Maple sugar!↑I would say that it tastes pretty much exactly like maple syrup, just in a different form. It is excellent for baking!