It's Maple Syrup season again! (Londonderry, Chester: house, school, live)

[jthibodeau]

The season has been in full swing over the last couple of weeks in southern and central NH. The snow pack has helped with those cold nights we've been experiencing. The cold 25 degree nights in conjunction with sunny daytime temps in the 40's and 50's causes the sap to run.

From my stand point, I've seen little light syrup this year. Most of the grade has been between medium and dark amber. I had a 2 day stop in run during Thursday and Friday. Prior to that, the sap ran clear. Yesterday, it appears the sap is starting to turn cloudy. I expect this cloudy sap will lead to a darker amber and may lean towards a "Grade B".

Lighter syrups tend to have a more nutty flavor where, as the syrup darkens, a richer/stronger maple flavor is more evident. Many people prefer the Grade B syrup for eating and cooking due to this.

I do believe March 28th and 29th will be open house weekend for those "Sugar Shacks" which participate in this annual event. Check your local Newspaper for additional information.

I've got some boiling to do. Everyone have a sweet day...........

[nicolem]

Great news. My favorite pancake place has opened for the season and we will be going at the end of March for some yummy pancakes and delicious maple syrup. I cannot wait!

[bignhfamily]

That's right! New Hampshire Maple Weekend March 28th and 29th this year. You can check out New Hampshire Maple Producers' Association - Welcoming Page to see what's going on. Good times to be had by all and a very NH tradition. It's good for folks to get out and recognize the economic and cultural importance of maple producers here.
My kids are out boiling off some their Sunday school right now!

Have a great day!

[GraniteStater]

That sounds like a good sugaring season where you are.
I read an article that said some of the maple trees in the Monadnock and Sunapee regions were damaged in the ice storm. Based on my travels, I think a lot of the trees got hit hard at slightly higher elevations. Hopefully many people will get out and start pruning as this is the best time of year to do it.

[bignhfamily]

The sugar house we were at is in Warner (Rogers Maple Syrup). They tap 100's of trees and is a very modern collection system. It is a vacuum system and at peak performance can extract 600 gallons an hour!
I do like that their evaporator is still old fashion and run with wood fire.
Tonight we had buttermilk pancakes with maple syrup made this weekend. Yum!

[FiveHorses]

Originally Posted by bignhfamily

. It is a vacuum system and at peak performance can extract 600 gallons an hour!

That's a lot of syrup.

Have any of you ever tried to describe the taste of maple syrup to someone that's never had it? It's... well, rather difficult. I just kept wanting to say, "It's tastes like... well, like maple syrup!"

Here's a marketing question: the embarrassing truth is I did not know that maple syrup was harvested (is that the correct term?) at this time of year. I only learned this (in my dotage) on the last maple syrup thread on this forum. Based purely on remembered labels of real maple syrup from the past, I would have thought (I did think!) it happened in the dead of winter. The label always depicted a scene with a gentleman (in thick plaid jacket) traipsing across knee-deep snow to tapped trees (also covered in snow), bucket in hand, on a clear starry night with a nice puff of smoke coming from the chimney in the house with the twinkling lights in the windows far across the snow covered field.

Was this just to confuse non-natives? Ever since I read that it's about now you make maple syrup, this really has been bugging me because I can picture the label from.... more years ago than I care to count. I know, sad isn't it?

[GregW]

five horses - That scene is still pretty accurate because there is usually plenty of snow left in the sugar parch when the sap begins to run.

Note: groves of sugar maples were left standing when NH was almost completely cleared of trees for farming in the early 1800's.

The 600 gallons per hour is the sap collection. That will boil down to about (IRRC) 6 gallons of syrup.

Londonderry - I have seen steal coming from Henry's sugar shack on Peabody Lane. Time to pay a visit.

[jakiedoodle]

Awesome! I think I'll take my son to Folsom's in Chester this weekend. He's never seen the process and they are giving tours this weekend and Maple sundaes! ; )

[jthibodeau]

I can only speak for myself when it comes to determining when to tap trees. Normally, I'll tap between February 15th to March 1st. with usually plenty of snow on the ground so, your vision is somewhat accurate. You were just off a few weeks. I've tapped as early as January 15th one year due to one of those January thaws. One just has to remember that a tapped tree will try to heal itself as soon as you've drilled it. Tap holes will normally last 6 to 8 weeks with the runs becoming progressively less near the end of the season.

Tapping for Maple Syrup is dependent upon those swings in temperature. So, with that in mind, I can tell you that "sap" can also be tapped in the fall. However, sugar content is extremely low during that time of year and boiling sap with 1/2 percent sugar content is hardly worth the time and effort.
The spring runs will normally deliver sugar content in the 2%, 3% and upwards of 4% range with the proper conditions and trees. For example, 2% sap requires 50 Gallons of sap to be boiled to produce 1 gallon of maple syrup.

In my case, each cord of wood will boil 250 gallons of sap down to 5 gallons of syrup. With my small evaporator, I can boil, on average, 10 to 12 gallons of sap an hour. Making a gallon and a half is a all day job. Of course, the "Big Boys" you'll visit next weekend will put my numbers to shame. However, with the cost of equipment, I can assure you those "plaid shirted sappers" aren't getting rich over all this. It truly involves a love.........maybe more of an addiction. If you don't believe me, just ask while your visiting next weekend and he's sweating bullets trying to keep the evaporator running while everyone is milling around just watching......"Do you ever consider increasing the amount of taps you have?" Just enjoy the look he'll give back.......

[NH2008]

I remember that picture perfectly, too! On a tin container, right? Thanks for the nostalgia!

Originally Posted by FiveHorses

That's a lot of syrup.

Have any of you ever tried to describe the taste of maple syrup to someone that's never had it? It's... well, rather difficult. I just kept wanting to say, "It's tastes like... well, like maple syrup!"

Here's a marketing question: the embarrassing truth is I did not know that maple syrup was harvested (is that the correct term?) at this time of year. I only learned this (in my dotage) on the last maple syrup thread on this forum. Based purely on remembered labels of real maple syrup from the past, I would have thought (I did think!) it happened in the dead of winter. The label always depicted a scene with a gentleman (in thick plaid jacket) traipsing across knee-deep snow to tapped trees (also covered in snow), bucket in hand, on a clear starry night with a nice puff of smoke coming from the chimney in the house with the twinkling lights in the windows far across the snow covered field.

Was this just to confuse non-natives? Ever since I read that it's about now you make maple syrup, this really has been bugging me because I can picture the label from.... more years ago than I care to count. I know, sad isn't it?