Sugarin' Season: Boiling Tonight?

In honor of Sugarin' Season, we bring you this short excerpt from the excellent, down-to-earth book written by Rink Mann about Backyard Sugarin' and boiling maple sap.

"I suppose I got involved in backyard sugarin' the day my determination to make maple syrup ran smack dab into my good wife's determination that the boiling down not be done on the kitchen stove. I must say she has a point. You see, the main thing about making maple syrup is you have to boil off about 32 parts of water in the form of steam to end up with one part of maple syrup. That means that if you're boiling down a batch some Saturday afternoon on the kitchen stove and are aiming, say, for 3 quarts of syrup, you're going to put about 24 gallons of water into the air in the form of steam before the boiling's done. Unless you've got one awful powerful exhaust fan, you end up with water streaming down the walls and enough steam to impair visibility across the room. And, when things finally do clear, you're apt to find the wallpaper laying on the floor. Then too, even if the batch doesn't boil over on you, which it can, the sugar in the spray from all that furious boiling gets all over the stove and is harder than blazes to get off. So, if you want to maintain a measure of domestic tranquility, the best thing is to do your boiling -- most of it anyway-- outside, or in a garage or a shed if you've got one handy."

You'll have to purchase Backyard Sugarin' from our Country Bookstore if you want to learn more about sugarin'!

Source: Rink Mann, Backyard Sugarin', Woodstock, VT 1991.