Something a little different.
The snow is finally melting and the Maples ate waking up so I drilled some holes in the trees and collected some sap and cooked it down for a sample.
This year the trees are a little late to push the sap up but it was still below zero two weeks ago.
The first cook down I stopped at 228º and it formed sugar on the bottom of the card when it cooled over night so I put it back in the final cook down and pulled it off the fire at 223º and this is the results what you see in the photo.
It takes around 40 pat=rts sap to make 1 part syrup but this year the syrup is extra sweet and makes sugar at a lower temperature than normal so I will be getting more for less this year
I have two pots cooking now that the trees are waking up.
I got 4 1/2 pints from 11 or 12 gallons sap ? but it's exceptionally good this year.