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Maple Syrup - From the Tree to the Bottle


ravinj

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ok.. I hope this is NOT this years run.. Feb 7th 2012 is well ridiculously early..usually in Quebec, March 17th is the start and runs about 10 to 14 days...depending on the snowpack and freeze during the night.

 

Nice set..would have been nice to see the "boil down" ..the maple water boiler is quite unique...I am assuming this one was similar.... a set of cascading steps, as the water evaporates the liquid gets thicker and travels to the next lower tray over the lip, until it gets to the last one and a spigot is opened to fill the bottles or cans

 

Thanks for sharing

 

Cheers, JRM

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JRM - thanks for the comments. This series is from a "living history" farm in New Jersey taken this month. They do have a production run going on - probably because of the mild winter. I have a few more photos, will post in a separate thread.

 

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A tale well told!

 

What effect (if any) does the draining of the sap have on the well-being of the tree?

 

 

Thats a very common question, the answer is :

 

1) with traditional methods where the spigot on the tree is removed..the tree recovers

2) with the 1980's, in St Joseph Du Lac at Monsieur Gauthie's farm, there began a vast network of plastic tubing, plastic spigots and they were left in there permanently..thats was back in the 80's , the trees are no worse for wear.

3) then the so called " modern method " where a hormonal pill is placed in the ground next to the tree to that the tree literally " bleeds to death..is extremely harmful but was rampant.... the Quebec Maple producers association of Quebec then had to to go through almost 15 years of weeding out the abusers and a program of certification of both authenticity and non destructive agriculture.

The maple tree poaching, so to speak , still happens so be weary of "cheap" maple syrup, make sure its certified, I know Vermont, Maine and New Hampshire have similar certification as well

 

Cheers, JRM

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Gentlemen - Thanks for you comments.

 

"How many trees have to be tapped to fill a can that big?" A lot I would guess! The bucket I helped pour in the big can had about 0.7 gallons of liquid in 10 hours.

 

"What effect (if any) does the draining of the sap have on the well-being of the tree?" JRM covered this nicely. I would add that the trees I saw were very healthy and they have been tapped for at least 20 years now. I believe tapping starts late in the tree's life.

 

I will post a few more in the next set.

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