Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Tree Honey


I finished making my first couple batches of syrup and they taste great! The first syrup looks and tastes a little more like a light butterscotch and less like maple syrup but is wonderful on biscuits. The second batch looks more like maple syrup but now has a slightly butterscotch/maple flavor. Either way I am very happy with my little experiment and will be boiling down the sap a couple times a week. Don't they look delicious?

Since I didn't have the money to purchase a lot of equipment, I wanted to find something I could use that I already owned. The first batch was boiled down in my electric frying pan out on the picnic table. It took quite a long time and I am not sure if that is why the first batch is so light in color. I decided to purchase a hot plate for the second batch and it cooked down much quicker. For both, I finished the boiling process on my stove in the kitchen so I could control the temperature better and keep a closer eye on them. Looks like I can expect approximately 3 gallons of sap a day from my 2 trees which will make a little less than a pint of syrup. I am happy and plan on approaching a couple of neighbors next year to see if they will allow me to tap their trees as well...a nice pint of syrup may help in convincing them to let me tap them.

2 comments:

Margot said...

Hi, I just discovered your lovely blog from a link you posted on veg web. It is absolutely wonderful - so many great tips on things I am interested in also. I also live in Michigan so whatever you are writing about is the same planting zone and time frame as me _ Yea! Could you make your photos larger so they could more clearly illustrate the particular post?

I am now a follower and look forward to reading more of your blog in the days to come. Happy gardening!

Kim said...

Hi Margot, I am new to blogging and hope you will forgive my fuzzy pictures sometimes...I don't have a very good camera and unless the light is perfect they pictures are not so good. If you click on the picture it will enlarge it to full screen. Thanks for visiting and I hope to hear from you again. Kim