| How We Make Maple Syrup in Our Own Sugarhouse |
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A group gathers to begin a tour of our Sugar House | |
Inside, Bobby shows visitors maple tubing used to gather sap from maple trees in a sugar bush | |
A sap bucket, not too commonly used anymore by sap makers. Parker`s Maple Barn still uses hundreds of them |
Many styles and sizes of sap buckets on display along with a very old evaporator in the foreground | |
300 gallon tank full of sap waits to be boiled down in our evaporator | |
Ronnie checks the sugar content of a tank of sap using a hydrometer. The hydrometer floats in the sap inside the metal cylinder |
The hydrometer resembles a thermometer, but measures sugar, not temperature. The number that is visible on the surface is the percentage of sugar in the sap. Typically only 2-3% sugar. | |
Filtered sap is pumped into a holding tank | |
The sap looks just like water and is very clear |
With a ratio of about 40:1, it would take this large barrel full of sap to make two smaller jugs of syrup | |
Don starts a fire under the evaporator | |
We burn four foot slabs of pine |
The hottest fire will make the best quality syrup | |
As the steam rises, the sap gets thicker, darker and sweeter | |
A close up view of the front pan |
Ronnie checks the sugar content of the maple syrup with another hydrometer | |
When the syrup reaches a sugar concentration of 67%, we draw off a three gallon batch | |
Does anyone know what this white stuff is? It is called Diatomaceous Earth. We add it to the syrup. It becomes our organic filter agent. It is then removed |
Bobby shows visitors the filter that removes the impurities from the syrup | |
Ronnie checks the maple syrup using a grading kit in order to compare the color. This will determine whether the syrup is Grade A light, medium or dark, or Grade B | |
The darker the syrup color, the stronger the maple flavor, as simple as that |
Nothing goes into our jugs but natural sugars and water from Maple trees. No additives or preservatives! Can you find the jug on the shelf that is not pure Maple syrup? | |
A close up of our slab pile. We can burn 40-100 cords of wood in our 6 week sugar season | |
A full car park on a busy Sunday morning in March |
A sugar maple tapped with buckets and bags. You can see the sap inside the clear bag | |
Sap falls into a sap bucket one drop at a time | |
A true New England site! |
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