One hundred gallons!!! Unbelievable! I spent yesterday and today boiling down the sap into syrup. So far, I managed to boil down another 15 gallons. This has got to be the best New York syrup ever! Beautiful amber color, clear, and sweet!

     The process is actually quite time consuming but very rewarding. The boiling process is the longest part. A good gentle boil will evaporate the water out of the sap and create syrup. Once syrup is created, the next step is to filter the syrup through cheese cloth. The syrup is then returned to the pot to be brought back up to a boil. Now is the time to clarify the syrup by poaching an egg in the syrup. Just like in the 1800s, the egg will act as a clarifying agent. Any impurities in the syrup will be drawn to the egg, making the syrup clear. (The egg tastes good, too.) This is so neat! Once the syrup cools, it can be stored safely in a container in the refrigerator. I figure with the amount of sap we collected. I should be able to make about 2 ½ gallons of syrup. That should carry me until next season (I hope).

      Who would have thought we would be making maple syrup?