It's Maple Syrup time!!!! I follow a group through facebook called Maritime Maple Syrup. Seeing as I am new to the maple syrup gig I thought I would read along and get some pointers. Apparently popular opinion varies quite widely on when to tap, but this weekend seemed like one of the more popular times. So Friday I got out my gear, tapped two trees and settled in for the -16 degree day! Just my luck!! For those of you who do not know, the ideal temperatures are minus over night and plus temperatures during the day, so the -16 day was not a promising start. Today was better and I was happy to see some sap flowing.
I also realized that I made a rookie mistake last year. After the sap was all boiled down to syrup there remained an "off" taste. The best I could describe it as was "woodsy". I had asked around and no one could help pin point where I went wrong. Well....I think I figured it out. Apparently for maple syrup to taste like maple syrup you need to tap a maple tree. (Insert hand hitting forehead here). As I was scouting out my trees on Thursday trying to decide if any other maples were big enough to tap this year, I thought one of the maples I tapped last year look a little different than the others, so I googled "what type of maple has camouflage looking bark". That would apparently be an American Sycamore type of NON maple!!! In my defence it does have maple shaped leaves which were what I used to identify it, but apparently you need more than just the leaf to confirm it is a maple. I feel so stupid, but at least I didn't poison anyone with what I brewed last year!!
I am pretty sure I have two MAPLE trees tapped this time, so we will see if it produces a tastier syrup.
Today was birthday weekend. I want to wish Aunt Judy a great big happy birthday filled with lots of love and hugs...miss you so much!! Today also would have been my grandfathers birthday. I think of him often as I walk the property here. Not that anyone wants to be remembered because of a disease, but he was the first one to tell me about black knot fungus that grows on stone fruit trees. When I had moved into my house in Fonthill, I asked Poppy what that black stuff was on my plum tree. At the time, he had quite advanced macular degeneration (a loss of central vision, and his peripheral vision was like trying to look through swiss cheese). He asked me to leave the clippers and go away. He came to find me an hour later after having pruned the two plum trees to rid them of the disease. They very happily produced plums every year after that. After the rose briar, black knot fungus keeps me the most busy trying to remove it from my property. While it is another fast spreading, hard to get rid of issue, I love the memories it invokes.
I also realized that I made a rookie mistake last year. After the sap was all boiled down to syrup there remained an "off" taste. The best I could describe it as was "woodsy". I had asked around and no one could help pin point where I went wrong. Well....I think I figured it out. Apparently for maple syrup to taste like maple syrup you need to tap a maple tree. (Insert hand hitting forehead here). As I was scouting out my trees on Thursday trying to decide if any other maples were big enough to tap this year, I thought one of the maples I tapped last year look a little different than the others, so I googled "what type of maple has camouflage looking bark". That would apparently be an American Sycamore type of NON maple!!! In my defence it does have maple shaped leaves which were what I used to identify it, but apparently you need more than just the leaf to confirm it is a maple. I feel so stupid, but at least I didn't poison anyone with what I brewed last year!!
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