Our First Grade A Light Amber Pure Maple Syrup

Just about two minutes ago, I finished boiling our first batch of perfect grade A light amber pure maple syrup. It took a little while to collect the sap, but the trees are flowing a bit better now that it’s not ten degrees outside during the nights anymore.

Just yesterday, I was able to capture five good gallons of sap. For the week leading up to that, I only got five gallons through the entire duration. The week before that was so slow that I had to dump whatever I was able to get because the sugars in the sap started turning. When the sap gets foggy, it’s got to go. You can’t use it. This first round came from some prime sap. It’s lighter than I’ve ever made before and it tastes freaking awesome. Just like butter.

I’m telling you, there’s nothing like taking the time to boil down your own maple syrup so you can drizzle it over your breakfast, dessert or whatever else you can think of. There’s something natural about the whole thing. The good news is, I see 95 year olds around here doing the same thing I’m doing, so at least I can plan on having this as a hobby through all my years. It’s low impact, which is nice.

This first batch filled about 24 ounces of this mason jar. Beyond that, I was able to almost fill a quart container. So, if I had to guess, I’d say we now have about 50 ounces of syrup, which isn’t bad for the beginnings of this very late season. I’m hoping to get at least three weeks more out of it. If things go well, I should get over a gallon. Lord knows there’s enough winter around here. It’s been snowing all day and upwards of 10 more inches are expected for Tuesday.

By the way, I know I mentioned that I only hung six buckets in my previous post. Well, I decided to hang another four from some trees in the back. I picked real winners because everything is dripping very well.

Here’s another photo that shows the color better.

Until next time. Thanks for reading!