The sap flow has been surprisingly slow during what appeared to be ideal conditions, with lows in the 20's and highs in the 40's.  It took 3 days of sap flow to collect enough to justify starting the evaporator.  The sugar content of the sap is 2.3%, which means it takes approximately 37 gallons of sap to make one gallon of syrup. Because we had stored the sap for several days, the sucrose in the sap broke down into glucose and fructose, which resulted in a darker syrup upon heating in the evaporator.

The process of conversion of sucrose (a disaccharide) into two monosaccharides (glucose and fructose) is called hydrolysis. This is seen more commonly when the weather is warm or sap is stored for extended periods.  Our first batch of syrup had a very robust flavor for this reason.

The weather looks favorable this week and we hope last fall's drought will not carry over to decreased sap flow.

Check back later this week for an update.

Our anticipation builds as the meterologists continually adjust the forecast.  We have braced for sub-freezing temperatures all weekand we have been presently surprised by temperatures in the high thirties today in the surgarbush.The taps on the southern exposures of our maple trees have warmed quickly in the sun and we have noticed significant flow.

  Deep in the woods however, our collection tank is 1/3 full, but frozen like an iceberg!  The next week definitely looks favorabel with 40's forecast.  Our preparations are complete! 

  xtended Forecas

    Our taps have been in for over two weeks, so our attention has been focused on the weather, as well as completing preparations of our remaining equipment.

Since our focus is to produce the highest quality maple syrup which expresses the unique characteristics of our region, we place great attention to the details of production.  We have installed a high capacity sap filter as well as in-line germicidal lights to reduce any contamination.  Our evaporator has been reassembled and a test run using boiling water detects any leaks as well as sterilizing the entire surface that comes in contact with the syrup.

Our system employs a vacuum pump to augment the flow of sap from the tree.  We have optimized the system with leak resistant fittings and a properly tuned pump that generates 25 inches of negative pressure.

 Now we wait and watch the weather.