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First Syrup - Hopefully More To Come This Week

by Don 4/1/2013 4:58:00 AM

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.

AFTERNOON

Sunny

Sunny

High: 31 °F

TONIGHT

Mostly Clear

Mostly
Clear

Low: 18 °F

TUESDAY

Mostly Sunny

Mostly
Sunny

High: 37 °F

TUESDAY
NIGHT

Mostly Clear

Mostly
Clear

Low: 19 °F

WEDNESDAY

Sunny

Sunny

High: 50 °F

WEDNESDAY
NIGHT

Slight Chance Rain/Snow Chance for Measurable Precipitation 20%

Slight Chc
Rain/Snow

Low: 33 °F

THURSDAY

Mostly Sunny

Mostly
Sunny

High: 49 °F

THURSDAY
NIGHT

Mostly Cloudy

Mostly
Cloudy

Low: 29 °F

FRIDAY

Chance Rain/Snow Chance for Measurable Precipitation 30%

Chance
Rain/Snow

High: 47 °