Maple Syrup Question

[Stan P]

Hello Everyone,

  I hope everyone is good and surviving this cold spell.  I  am collecting maple sap to boil some with my sons this weekend, but have been unable to find a suitable pan to do that.  I plan to  build an outside stove out of cinderblocks.  any idea where I could buy one of those big deep pans?

thanks
Stan

[Raider Bill]

Get ahold of Maple flats, he's here somewhere.

[mike_van]

Stan, check this place - http://www.bascommaple.com/    They have all kinds of used syrup equipment.

[Stan P]

thank you

[junkyard]

Go to a plumbing or heating shop that makes thier own duct work. they will make any size you want.
Galvanised is good as long as you dont scorch it. If you scorch the pan you have ruined the syrup don't eat it. We have used galvanised pans for years with no problems.
                         Junkyard

[Stan P]

thanks Junkyard,

  I ended up buying a big stainless broiler. . boiled about 3 gallons with my boys who are 4 and 6 in the house.  about 4 hours later we had 1/4  to 1/3 of a pint.  next year we'll get better organized, but they both had fun getting involved and at the final product. 

  Now I know why maple syrup is so expensive. 


out here

Stan

[footer]

Can you even buy maple syrup in the grocery store?
All the pancake syrups I have seen in the store have basically these ingredients,

INGREDIENTS: CORN SYRUP, HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP, WATER, CELLULOSE GUM, CARAMEL COLOR, SALT, SODIUM BENZOATE AND SORBIC ACID (PRESERVATIVES), ARTIFICIAL AND NATURAL FLAVORS, SODIUM HEXAMETAPHOSPHATE.

©Copyright 2007 The Quaker Oats Company All rights reserved.

[Stan P]

I'm sure you can find it in some small stores if they have an organic section.  We  usually pick it up at a local farmer/producer.

[mike_van]

SODIUM HEXAMETAPHOSPHATE.    YUM - YUM -

[Dave Shepard]

I think "Ingredients:sap" sounds better. ;D


Dave

[WDH]

All these "sap-challenged" folks are jealous (maybe it is just me). 

[BBTom]

I do not agree with all of the following, maple sap does contain bacteria, therefore it is not sterile.  typical maple syrup has about 50 calories per tablespoon.

From massmaple.org

Pure maple syrup is a 100% natural food, processed by heat concentration of pure maple sap. This sap is a sterile, clear liquid, which provides the trees with water and nutrients prior to the buds and leaves opening in the spring. In the boiling, concentrating, and filtering processes, all the nutrients remain in the syrup. There are some quantitative differences in maple syrup's nutritive composition due to metabolic and environmental differences among maple trees.

Sugars: Sugars are an important source of energy. The main sugar in pure Maple syrup is sucrose. The darker grades, especially Grade B syrup, contain small and variable amounts of fructose and glucose. In order of sweetness, sucrose is less sweet than fructose, and sweeter than glucose.

Minerals: Minerals have specific and nonspecific nutritional functions in the body's metabolism. In pure filtered maple syrup the main minerals present are: calcium, potassium, manganese, magnesium, phosphorus, and iron.

Vitamins: Vitamins are essential to maintain health; they cannot be manufactured by the body (except Vitamin D) so they must be acquired through food or taken separately. In pure maple syrup trace amounts of vitamins are present, mainly B2 (Riboflavin), B5 (Pantothenic Acid), B6 (Pyridoxine), PP (Niacin, B1), Biotin, and Folic Acid.

Amino Acids: Amino Acids are the building blocks of the proteins. In pure maple syrup many amino acids are present in trace amounts.

[Raphael]

I do not agree with all of the following, maple sap does contain bacteria, therefore it is not sterile.

It's certainly sterile after being boiled down into syrup.  The bacteria that can survive that only live in and near volcanic vents in the ocean floor.

[Dave Shepard]

We are all in contact with bacteria every day. Sometimes that can be a good thing. How many farm kids do you know that are sick every day? I'll take on a bacteria before I buy any HFCS table-sludge. JMO.


Dave

[Raphael]

  Indeed, we'd all be in pretty sad shape if it weren't for the bacteria on our skin protecting us from pathogens or the bacteria in our guts that synthesize vitamins and liberate nutrients for us from the food we eat. 

[RSteiner]

I remember as a younger person we use to drink the sap right out of the buckets.  While we were gathering if some one got thirsty we drank or full of sap.  Some trees had sweeter sap than others.  I don't everr remember getting any type of stomach distress from doing this.

I must admit I haven't done this is a few years.  We also would take a couple of eggs and drop them in the boiling sap, a few minutes later you had a nice hard boilled egg with a hint of maple flavor.  Before gathering a good shot of pure maple syrup gave one all the energy  you needed to bring in the next batch of sap.

Randy

[BBTom]

Didn't mean to raise a firestorm, guys.  I wasn't trying to say that they were bacteria that would make you sick, just that their saying that it is sterile is not true. 

Bacteria in maple sap needs to be controlled as it can consume much of the sugar in the sap and cause the syrup to drop to grade B or even to commercial.  Sap needs to be boiled within 48 hours of collection,  I always try to get mine boiled within 24 hrs, and I treat the sap with ultraviolet light as it comes in from the trees.

I've made about 50 gallon so far this year.  Will be boiling again today.

[SPIKER]

Tom:)  thanks for info: I asked this in other post about syrup...  forgot how long It keeps before boiling is needed.  I boiled all my first round (up to trong simmer then kept it over night / next day to finish boiling.  I now have 40~50 gallons setting going on 24 hrs so I guess I should go boil tomorrow.

MarkM