Maple syrup making supplies????

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My hubby and I are going to try our hand at making some maple syrup in the spring and are trying to round up supplies. So far I have the spiles, got a good (no, great) deal on ebay. But now I need buckets for catching the sap, and a pot to boil the sap in. Does anyone know of any websites that sell maple syrup making supplies? Also if anyone has any helpful hints, they would be appreciated. Thanks Kim :-D

-- Kim in Indiana (kwcountrygirl@aol.com), October 03, 2001

Answers

Hi Kim, my brother made syrup a few years when they lived in WI. As far as buckets go, you can use just about anything. I think I've even heard of people using plastic milk jugs with a hole cut in the side for the spile. I've also seen plastic tubing strung from tree to tree with one big collector at the end of the line. I believe that's the method the Amish neighbor used in my brother's sugar bush after he took over the syrup making. For an evaporator, having the biggest surface area you can will help cut down on your boiling time. Are you just making syrup for your own use or are you planning on making it to sell? He used a big metal container that I think he got from someone who had made syrup. He put it over a galvanized stock tank, one of the long ones, with a door cut out of one end. He built the fire in the stock tank, feeding the fire thru the door. If you're not interested in large amounts at a time, maybe one of those large rectangular restaruant pans, the kind they use on hot tables on the buffets would work. I thought about one of those on a gas grill. I don't know if the cost of propane would be prohibitive. I never was around for the whole process so don't know how long it takes from sap to finished syrup. As it cooked down, he'd add more sap to the big pan. At some point, he'd pour it into another container and I think my sister in law finished it up in the kitchen. Then he'd start all over with the pan full of fresh sap. Don't try to boil sap from the beginning in your house. It is mostly water and all that steam will make a mess in your kitchen. I believe he said it takes about 35 gallons of sap for one gallon of syrup.

-- Deb Foster (DFoster987@aol.com), October 04, 2001.

A good book for you would be "Backyard Sugarin'" by Rink Mann (I got mine from the Countryside Bookstore). It has lots and lots of pictures showing the whole process. He also suggests using milkjugs as collecting buckets and restaurant size pans for boiling small amounts. In Susan Tyler Hitchcock's book "Gather Ye Wild Things: A Forager's Year" (this is a GREAT book for all you foragers out there) she suggests freezing to separate the water from the syrup. She says to let a jug of frozen sap thaw until it's about 1/3 liquid. The sugar solution melts faster so what is still frozen will be water. Pour off the sugar solution and re-freeze. Repeat this process until you have a manageable amount of solution which you can then finish off on the stovetop. Haven't ever heard of anyone doing this but I plan on trying it at least once! Seems like it would work great for small amounts of syrup. We go to the Maple Syrup Festival in Whitetop, VA every year and they use the plastic tubing method described above. They tap lots of trees and this saves them from having to empty lots of buckets. All the tubes are run from tree to tree and then downhill into a plastic barrel which they replace as needed. Very ingenious! Good luck and let us know how it turns out!

-- Bren (wayoutfarm@skybest.com), October 04, 2001.

When I was little we lived in Upstate New York and made maple syrup every spring. I believe we used those handy-dandy 5 gallon buckets that you can get at the bakery department of your local grocery, free or very cheap! We might have used gallon milk jugs too- probably depended on how big the tree was or how strongly the sap was flowing. To the best of my knowledge there are 2 kinds of spiles, the old fashioned metal ones that drip directly into buckets and the newer plastic ones that attach to tubes. I'm not sure if there's a way to "convert" the metal ones to tubes, but with a bit of ingenuity I'm sure you could figure one out. As for the evaporating pan, if I recall correctly my dad had a friend who was a welder make a huge rectangular pan out of sheet metal. You could probably have one made for you at a welder's shop. We cooked it down over a wood fire on a brick barbecue grill in our back yard, then brought it in the house once it had been cooked down quite a bit. Good luck and have fun!

-- Sarah K. (ladynuala@hotmail.com), October 04, 2001.

Kim,We make maple syrup commercially but on a small scale, in Indiana. I don't know where you are in the state, but most of us purchase our supplies from one of several people in either Michigan or Wisconsin. Sugar Bush Supplies at 2611 Okemos Rd, Mason Mi 48854, have most anything you'd need. Also, check out http://ohio- line.ag.ohio-state.edu where you can find the USDA maple syrup manual printed in it's entirety. That said, if you're planning on only a few taps, at least at first, use whatever you can find---milk jugs, 5 gallon buckets, you name it. If you try to cook it off in the house, the steam will take off your wallpaper, etc. Find a producer in the neighborhood and ask them. We have a state organization, of which my husband is the president. Write me and I can suggest someone near you (maybe us???) to talk to. Can I help more. Above all go for it, it's fun and absolutely a delicious activity.

-- Rosalie Deatline (deatline@globalsite.net), October 05, 2001.

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