Almost time to tap the maples. Then shortly afer the maples comes the birch.

[hawgrider]

Anybody here make there own syrup?

I don't have any maples but I do have birch. Not sure if we are going to tap this year or not yet. Its a long couple of weeks. It was a boiling nightmare but fun at the same time. I had to boil every nite after work for a little over 2 weeks. It took its toll on me towards the end but If you have never had birch syrup your in for a treat. The stuff is crazy expensive almost $300.00 per gallon last time I checked.

Like I said I'm not sure I'm up to the work this year as I have had terrible back issues since last august so we haven't decided yet. But I may dig out the pictures from 2 years ago to give you a look see.

I think its 40 gallons of maple sap to yield a gallon. And 100 gallons of birch sap to yield a gallon so you can see why both the maple and the birch syrup are so expensive.

[Inor]

I have never done it but would love to hear more. Please post some pictures and a description.

[hawgrider]

I have never done it but would love to hear more. Please post some pictures and a description.Ok I'll see if I can find them They should be on a CD buried somewhere Ive been meaning to dig them out anyway. Might take me a couple days.

I was a complete rookie when we did this. In fact I thought we had missed the sap run and then...... all hell broke loose. I was getting about 5 gallons+ a day from 2 taps on one birch tree. If I would have had tons of refrigerated storage space it would have been easier because you can collect the sap and then refrigerate for 7 days before the sap clouds and goes bad. That would have allowed me to boil more on the weekends.
Speaking of cloudy sap that's when you know the run is over the sap collected at the end of the run will be cloudy.... all done throw it away and wait till next year.
I forgot exactly how much finished product we got but we boiled a couple hundred gallons during that run of about 2 1/2 weeks or so.

Birch syrup is unique if you were to throw some on a stack of pancakes your palette will be surprised! Its sort of tart compared to maple which is what you mind is telling your tongue to expect on the first bite of Pancakes. I mostly used it on biscuits and in my tea and coffee. But the ultimate use for it is on some good quality vanilla Ice cream oh man To die for. Holy moley I was in hawg crap heaven.

[hawgrider]

Oh yeah one important note-

Do NOT boil in the house...... Don't ask me how I know LOL


I'll give you a hint though.......


Sticky walls and ceiling Duh! dumb ass!

[hawgrider]

Ok Found a few pics. First one is a pic of the tree friendly small spile. They are supposedly easier on the tree. I don't remember for certain but I think the drill size is 5/16 basically Drill the hole in the tree and insert the spile by tapping it in with a rubber mallet. Drill about 1"deep hole in the birch tree about waist high or so and drill at a slightly upward angle. I tapped on the south and west side of the tree. My birch is a huge mature tree so it will support 3 taps maximum. We started with 3 taps ended up using just 2 taps.

http://i1358.photobucket.com/albums/q761/hawgrider97/stuff/325_zpsmqpozbx5.jpg (http://s1358.photobucket.com/user/hawgrider97/media/stuff/325_zpsmqpozbx5.jpg.html)




We started with these disposable collection bags because it seemed easy no washing toss them when done I think they held about 4 or 5 gallons.
they hang right on the spile. The blue hose you see is from a second tap we had going into the same bag which worked ok until the sap flow went absolutely crazy.

http://i1358.photobucket.com/albums/q761/hawgrider97/stuff/327_zps7i7oadfb.jpg (http://s1358.photobucket.com/user/hawgrider97/media/stuff/327_zps7i7oadfb.jpg.html)





Flow starting to pick up speed.
http://i1358.photobucket.com/albums/q761/hawgrider97/stuff/330_zpshvdmbnp4.jpg (http://s1358.photobucket.com/user/hawgrider97/media/stuff/330_zpshvdmbnp4.jpg.html)

[hawgrider]

Flow started picking up so fast after a few days the one bag was not enough it would be overflowing by 3pm when I got home from work. The bags were also hard to handle when full so we went to this method of collection. That's a 5 gallon Culligan Jug on the right. That should do it right ? Nope


http://i1358.photobucket.com/albums/q761/hawgrider97/stuff/340_zpsbcyr6brq.jpg (http://s1358.photobucket.com/user/hawgrider97/media/stuff/340_zpsbcyr6brq.jpg.html)





We ended up using two 5 gallon jugs. They would be about 1/2 to 3/4 full by the time I got home every day for a couple weeks. The black strap is so the wind didn't blow the jugs over when empty.

http://i1358.photobucket.com/albums/q761/hawgrider97/stuff/344_zps6gdsh9nl.jpg (http://s1358.photobucket.com/user/hawgrider97/media/stuff/344_zps6gdsh9nl.jpg.html)

[hawgrider]

So every night Id have to boil and boil and boil and boil and boil get the drift !

http://i1358.photobucket.com/albums/q761/hawgrider97/stuff/339_zpsmfxlaf9e.jpg (http://s1358.photobucket.com/user/hawgrider97/media/stuff/339_zpsmfxlaf9e.jpg.html)










It had to be boiled down to this.

http://i1358.photobucket.com/albums/q761/hawgrider97/stuff/337_zps3t9quqd1.jpg (http://s1358.photobucket.com/user/hawgrider97/media/stuff/337_zps3t9quqd1.jpg.html)









And then down to this. You can see its getting thicker and there is less steam and the boil looks different. Its getting close.


http://i1358.photobucket.com/albums/q761/hawgrider97/stuff/342_zpsgpcu9dzf.jpg (http://s1358.photobucket.com/user/hawgrider97/media/stuff/342_zpsgpcu9dzf.jpg.html)









But now you have to watch it very close so you don't burn it. And when it starts to get thick then your done and you get this-

http://i1358.photobucket.com/albums/q761/hawgrider97/stuff/338_zpsurmgjfb9.jpg (http://s1358.photobucket.com/user/hawgrider97/media/stuff/338_zpsurmgjfb9.jpg.html)



If you have birch. And nothing to do this stuff is liquid gold. It was selling for over 300.00 per gallon if I remember correctly.

Wish I wouldn't have cut down the two maples trees I had 25 years ago :crazy: And worse yet When I had 25 acres in the tip of the mitt I had about 12 acres of white birch. I could have retired on those birch trees. :beathead:

[Inor]

So, how many hours of boiling went into that half-pint jar?

Great info!

[hawgrider]

So, how many hours of boiling went into that half-pint jar?

Great info! I was boiling 5+ gallons every night for a while there. Id start at about 3pm and just get done at around 11pm to boil it down to syrup.



Birch syrup in Alaska is produced by collecting the sap from the paper birch and evaporating it to syrup. It takes an average of 100 gallons of sap to make 1 gallon of birch syrup. Maple syrup, by comparison, averages 40:1.
http://alaskabirchsyrup.com/abbisy.html


^^Check out the prices on the link^^

[MI.oldguy]

So,how does Birch syrup taste?.sweet like maple?.

We attended a syrup tapping event at a sugar bush party once.looked like fun.too bad we only have three maples on our property.and the one birch we cut down because it was hanging too close to our house and freaked us out when the winds were high.

[hawgrider]

So,how does Birch syrup taste?.sweet like maple?.

We attended a syrup tapping event at a sugar bush party once.looked like fun.too bad we only have three maples on our property.and the one birch we cut down because it was hanging too close to our house and freaked us out when the winds were high.

No not at all like maple syrup. It has sweet elements but also tart. Most probably wouldn't like it on Pancakes or waffles. My favorite way is on Biscuits and vanilla ice cream and sometimes in my coffee. It has a molasses type flavor.









Birch syrup is distinctive in flavor and versatile. It has a rich, spicy-sweet flavor that reminds people of flavors from their past -sorghum, horehound candy, different varieties of honey. Birch syrup is a versatile and delicious sweetener that blends well with other flavors in a wide variety of recipes including marinades, barbecue sauces, and dressings, birch granola, baked beans, coffee, baked squash, baked goods, breads, milkshakes, natural sodas and ice cream.
http://alaskabirchsyrup.com/abbisy.html

[Innkeeper]

hmmmm I may have to look into this for next year, definitely not set up for trying it this year need to learn more about it first. Thanks for the info.

[Arklatex]

Damn good info Hawg!!! Thanks for posting the link to this thread. Very cool.

[hawgrider]

Damn good info Hawg!!! Thanks for posting the link to this thread. Very cool.
No problem Ark. Its a fun and tasty venture.