The sap is running! Last year we were largely robbed of the sugar season when winter ended a month early (just kidding! Catastrophic frost in June!).
I completely failed to get taps in the trees on time last year.
This year, the sugar season is right on time, precisely timing the sugar moon. I've got one tree tapped, the sap is flowing, and I'm even boiling it down!
In the past I've tapped several trees and collected an awe-inspiring quantity of sap, and failed to boil any because in general I don't even try to resist chugging it, cold, standing next to the tree (WOW!).
I made kombucha from it (wow), I boiled it to make tea, and soup, but not syrup.
Also I believed the horror stories of dripping walls and sauna reenactments from boiling sap indoors and vaporizing 39 out 40 parts water. Doing it anyways this year. I discovered something, maybe. I was in and out of the house today turning the stove on when I was in and off when I left (window open), and whenever I returned to the cooled pot, there was a remarkable drop in the high water mark. It seemed quite a bit was evaporating every time while it cooled, without the burner on. So perhaps that's a tiny bit more efficient?
This time, I have a modest amount collected, (still chugging it from the bucket but with a little restraint), and I'm hoping for a quarter cup of syrup :D. Maybe a half a cup:)
Yes, it was very short here in Western Mass this year. Unlike last year when it ran for nearly 2 months!
This is so cool! I'm going to have to read through your other posts, but without really knowing, what kind of trees do you use? Are these maple trees?
Also, I've never heard of making kombucha with sap. That's so interesting!
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They are maple trees, but not the "rock" or sugar maples, which produce more and sweeter sap. I only have the less valuable "red" maples. Their sap makes syrup, still, but not as much. Yes, the kombucha was amazing!
I wonder if you could use other kinds of trees, like pine.
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birch, you can.
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