Comments on: From Sap to Syrup http://suespencer.wordpress.com/2008/03/01/making-syrup/ The monastic journey of a UU Minister Sun, 12 Jul 2009 22:41:56 +0000 http://wordpress.com/ hourly 1 By: Elena http://suespencer.wordpress.com/2008/03/01/making-syrup/#comment-54 Elena Sun, 02 Mar 2008 03:00:41 +0000 http://suespencer.wordpress.com/?p=36#comment-54 For a couple of years when I was a teenager (late 60s) I did the maple sugar thing. The best year was when my partner-in-tapping & I camped by the remnant of a house while tapping an unused sugar bush nearby. We built a fire in a corner of foundation - all that was left of the house - and put our large, metal boiling tub across it. In between sap collecting, one person guarded and fed the fire while the other was free to roam in the woods. Tea made with boiling sap is incomparable... As is syrup made over an open fire. It has a distinct smoky flavor. Only, after sifting out the sugar sand, we - actually I - did the final boiling down indoor... I did about 20 pints. Then when I went to change a record, the sap boiled over and set the stove on fire - flames reached the ceiling ...which I managed to clean up just as my mother got home. "Mom, I just set the stove on fire, but it is all cleaned up now." I said. She gave me a bemused look and said, "Fine." We never did get the scorch mark off the ceiling. For a couple of years when I was a teenager (late 60s) I did the maple sugar thing. The best year was when my partner-in-tapping & I camped by the remnant of a house while tapping an unused sugar bush nearby. We built a fire in a corner of foundation – all that was left of the house – and put our large, metal boiling tub across it. In between sap collecting, one person guarded and fed the fire while the other was free to roam in the woods.

Tea made with boiling sap is incomparable… As is syrup made over an open fire. It has a distinct smoky flavor.

Only, after sifting out the sugar sand, we – actually I – did the final boiling down indoor… I did about 20 pints. Then when I went to change a record, the sap boiled over and set the stove on fire – flames reached the ceiling …which I managed to clean up just as my mother got home.

“Mom, I just set the stove on fire, but it is all cleaned up now.” I said.

She gave me a bemused look and said, “Fine.”

We never did get the scorch mark off the ceiling.

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