![]() The air and surfaces surrounding the tap contain an abundance of microbes. That all changes once the sap starts to drain from the taphole. When sap comes from the tree, it is sterile. When quality syrup is the goal, timing is everything, and the clock starts as soon as the sap leaves the tree and doesn’t stop until it hits the evaporator. How you handle your sap prior to boiling will strongly affect the quality of the syrup you make. Pour your hard-earned syrup onto pancakes and enjoy! Alternately, you can also store it in sterilized bottles or jars, but we think you deserve a sweet reward after all that hard work, don’t you? The Maple Syrup Festival at Bronte Creek Provincial Park is open March 3-4, 10-18, 24-25, and 30 (9:00 am – 3:00 pm).The maple season is now underway and this is a good time to talk about handling your sap during and after collection. While the syrup is still warm, filter it through a piece of clean cheesecloth to remove natural sediments. This is a sticky business – if you’re boiling more than 10 L on your kitchen stove, the steam from your sap could literally peel the wallpaper off your walls. Place the sap in a pot and bring to a roiling boil until it reaches 103.8☌. Remember to remove the spile with the back of your hammer once you are done collecting sap for the season. Since sap has a relatively low concentration of sugar (at least compared to syrup!), you will need to collect quite a bit of sap: 40 L of sap will boil down to roughly 1 L of syrup. Store your sap in a refrigerator until you’re ready to boil it down to syrup. Hang the sap bucket on the hook attached to the spile and let nature work its magic! Step #8Ĭheck your bucket every day sap left in the bucket for multiple warm days can spoil. Don’t pound it in – you need to be able to remove the spile when the season is over so the tree can seal the hole. Insert the spile and tap it gently for a snug fit. Step #5ĭrill a hole 5-8 cm into the tree at waist height, slanting slightly upwards to allow gravity to help with the sap flow. Step #4Īssemble your maple tool kit! You’ll need a drill, a maple spile, a hammer and a sap bucket. The maple syrup season ends when the buds on the twigs begin to open any sap collected after this point will leave a bitter aftertaste. ![]() The sap flow begins when daytime temperatures reach above 0☌ and overnight lows still dip below. The tree must be 25.4+ cm in diameter for you to put one tap in it, 45 cm for two taps, and 60 cm for three taps. Measure around the tree at about shoulder height (1.5 m). ![]() Just like humans need to be a certain age to give blood, maple trees need to be mature before you can remove sap without harming the tree. And, of course, make sure you have permission to tap the tree if it’s not on your property. Take a close look at the leaves, seeds and bark to identify the tree. While you can make syrups from many types of trees, you need a Sugar Maple ( Acer Saccharum) to make the maple syrup everyone knows and loves. This might seem obvious, but it’s the most important step: find a maple tree! Not just any maple tree will do. Here’s how to make your own delicious maple syrup: With a few simple steps and tools, you can bring that history home with you. ![]() It’s that time of year again, when the sweet sounds of spring fill Bronte Creek Provincial Park: the twittering of returning songbirds, the laughter of visitors strolling through the woods, and the plink! plink! plink! of sugar maple sap dripping into a maple bucket.Ī visit to the Maple Syrup Festival walks you through the full history and process of making Canada’s favourite sweet syrup. This blog comes from Cathy Entwhistle, a Senior Park Interpreter at Bronte Creek Provincial Park. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |