My buddy Willis does a little syrup on the side.
Every year in late winter, as soon as the sap starts to run in the sugar maples, Willis has a couple of hundred gallons of the clear, runny liquid delivered in big plastic containers so he can boil it down into maple syrup. He’s been performing this springtime ritual for more than 70 years. Nowadays he boils in his little “caban” behind his house in “the bush”.
Let’s Cook …
Willis has been tinkering with maple sap and syrup since he was a lad.
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Sparking up the fire underneath the pans full of sap.
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Softwoods like hemlock, cedar, spruce and balsam are used as fuel.
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Waiting for the stove to heat up the sap.
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As the sap starts to boil the furnace is kept stoked with wood.
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The sap is reduced and thickened by boiling.
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“Sure a good head a steam on ’er now eh …”
Testing to see if we have syrup yet.
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Fresh raw sap drips in as the sap level goes down in the boiling pans.
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Willis explains how the sap makes its way through the boiling pans.
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Keep that wood coming …
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Willis explains the process …
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More wood from the back shed.
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The middle pan’s boiling over.
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Vapour escaping through the roof of the sugar shack during the boil.
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In the middle of a full boil.
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Sugar shack in the bush.
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Great to see that Willis is still so active. There is nothing to compare with good Canadian maple syrup. Such an interesting feature. Many thanks,