THE POP-EXPOSE ‘Pure Maple Syrup’!
Story Courtesy of Serpentorslair Contributor ‘TRAIN‘!
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This is the time of year New Yorkers are starting to produce Maple Syrup. A tradition that dates back to the Native Americans. Syrup is produced by boiling down the sweet sap of the Sugar Maple tree. It takes roughly 50 gallons of sap to make 1 gallon of syrup. From the tapping of the tree to the table there is quite a process to produce syrup, so the price tag gets pretty steep if you want the real stuff.
Growing up my family made Maple Syrup. Headed by my father we did things a bit of the old fashioned way. Depending on how the winter went normally right around this time of the year we would start tapping trees. In the heart of the Adirondak Mountains normally we would need to strap on some snow shoes and trek off into the woods to find all the maple trees. Now you have to be a good woodsman and know your trees by the bark. You won’t be able to find any leaves on the trees this time of the year. First we started off with a hand drill to make the hole for the spout. Then you hammer your spout into the tree. Finally you hang the bucket and put the lid on to keep out rain and snow. Later on as our operation progressed we were able to run plastic lead line that ran from tree to tree and then down to a main holding tank, but In the meantime as a young teenager, I didn’t need to think about hitting the gym, try carrying 2 five gallon pails of sap through the woods.
You need some freezing nights and warm days for the sap to run trough the tree. Once the buds come out you have to stop because the sap gets bitter and produces bad syrup. Once we get all the sap collected, then it’s boiling time, from one tank to another, then into the pan. We had a medium set up which consisted of 2 pans, one was roughly 4 by 8 which sits on the back of the arch, this is where the sap comes in and the water is boiled off. We used to hard boil eggs in the sap and it would give them a maple flavor.
After the water boils off the thicker darker liquid pushes itself into the front pan which was a fire feed pan in our case it was a 4 x 6 pan with 6 sections with an opening on one side, the liquid would push through to the draw side the thicker it got, once it hits the right temp the syrup gets drawn, filtered, and bottled. Then it was ready to top some of our favorite things such as snow and pancakes.
Making Maple Syrup is definitely not easy work, it takes many man hours with gathering and cutting wood for the fire, tapping trees, and gathering sap, not to mention the many hours it takes to boil and bottle. In the small town of Keene, it was something to do. A social gathering, there were always a few extra people hanging out or helping out. Often there was some grilling and beer drinking as well. It was more just a pass time for my family, but there were a lot of good times with friends and family.
