Al, reading your post brought back fond memories of making maple syrup. Back yard, not commercial. Have'nt done it for years, but used to tap a few trees and make a gallon or 2, if I was lucky. Was a wonderful thing just to boil in an open kettle in feb/mar here. I love to smell the steam coming off the open pot. We didn't have any fancy evaporator, however believe it or not, there are a few folks this far south that make it and sell commercially. But wow, what a lot of work. We usually get our spells of freezing nights, warm days in Feb. I would make my own spigets out of elderberry limbs (they have a soft pith you can push out). I'd buy some plastic trash cans to store my sap in during the week, then boil like a mad man on the weekends. I've bought a lot of commercial syrup, and none of it compared to the taste of my own it seems. The wood fire would go up around the kettle, and fly ash would fall back into the boiling sap. Of course, I had crude filtering methods, and always boiled my syrup as much as I could to make it thick, but not turn to candy. It was thick, and had a smokey taste. Seems like most of the commercial stuff I buy is thin, and doesn't have the deep maple flavor. Of course, who knows what kind of trees I was tapping! My aunt used to make a syrup by boiling shagbark hickory bark in water and sugar. Never tried that one, but maybe one of these days I will . Good luck in the Northwoods.
sassafras
