![]() Make sure to include maple in your holiday gift giving. During the holidays, sugar makers who do mail order are especially busy making maple products and filling gift box orders.In the months leading up to sugaring season, sugar makers will begin tapping trees in anticipation of the first sap run.Sugar makers that burn wood, stay busy splitting and stacking wood. A lot of Vermont sugar makers will be busy making products to sell from the sugarhouse and on their websites as well as at Farmers’ Markets and Fairs.Even though it looks like the finished product it will still need to be filtered, adjusted for density and graded for flavor and color. When the thermometer in the pan reaches 219 degrees the syrup is ready to draw off.As the water in the sap evaporates, the sap thickens. Stainless steel pans sit atop an arch, or firebox, where either oil or wood creates an intense fire. An evaporator is where the boiling takes place. The evaporation process sends clouds of sweet maple scented steam billowing from the sugarhouse cupolas and steam stacks. From the storage tanks, the sap is often put through a reverse osmosis machine, which takes a percentage of the water from the sap before boiling.A spout is inserted to direct the sap to either a bucket or into tubing that sends the sap to a large collection tank at the sugar house or a central collection area using a vacuum pump. The process starts with drilling a tap hole into a maple tree.For that reason, best practice is to throw away any syrup which has visible mold. What if I see mold on my syrup? Food safety is incredibly important to maple producers and to consumers. Feel free to take advantage of the better price and repack the syrup in smaller containers that fit better in your fridge or freezer - mason jars are a great option so you can see how much is in each jar. Sometimes the larger containers of maple syrup are a better price per ounce. The best way to store opened maple syrup is in the refrigerator or the freezer. Maple syrup, when sealed and unopened, has a long shelf life if stored in a cool, dark place. Maple syrup needs to be stored properly once it makes its way to your kitchen! See below for more.Some large maple trees in Vermont sugarbushes are over 200 years old!.A tree needs to be about 40 years (10-12 inches in diameter) to be large enough to tap.2.22 million gallons made in 2020! A record season. Vermont produces roughly 50% of the United States crop.Sugaring season ends when the warmer days of late spring cause the leaf buds to unfold.A pattern of freezing and thawing temperatures (below freezing at night and 40-45 degrees Fahrenheit during the day) will build up pressure within the trees causing the sap to flow from the tap holes. A typical sugaring season lasts 4 to 6 weeks.Maple sap is mostly crystal-clear water with about 2% sugar content.It takes roughly 40 gallons of sap to make one gallon of maple syrup.
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