tin sap buckets hang from maple trees lining a back road. many in this area tap their trees in the spring to gather up the sweet sap, then boil it down to make the sticky maple syrup that sweeten foods throughout the year. from a local farmer, i buy two quarts each april - for blueberry pancakes in summer, german apple pancakes in fall, french toast and waffles in winter. and i must make my stash last from one spring to the next.
19 March 2010
sap's running
tin sap buckets hang from maple trees lining a back road. many in this area tap their trees in the spring to gather up the sweet sap, then boil it down to make the sticky maple syrup that sweeten foods throughout the year. from a local farmer, i buy two quarts each april - for blueberry pancakes in summer, german apple pancakes in fall, french toast and waffles in winter. and i must make my stash last from one spring to the next.
That's wonderful, your very fortunate, we don't have that here and wish we did. All of the flavors of the pancakes sounds very delicious.
ReplyDeleteSounds delish! Enjoy!
ReplyDeleteHow cool is that and yummy!!!!
ReplyDeleteWow, I didn't know people did that with buckets to gather sap.
ReplyDeleteI love this. I picture a little girl or boy on their tippy toes trying to stick their finger in the bucket to get a taste. Very good work.
ReplyDeleteI did not have any idea how maple syrup is collected.Now I now. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteThe rubber is collected almost the same way as maple syrup.
ReplyDeleteTo the best of my knowledge, we don't have maple trees (for syrup) in Australia - only the ornamental (Japanese) varieties. So real maple syrup is imported (usually from Canada) and is very expensive. Most often, Aussies eat imitation maple syrup. I guess it's not a patch on the real thing!
ReplyDeleteThis is the most special thing in the world for me. Thanks for sending me a bit of what I miss!
ReplyDeletei love the picture. very nice.
ReplyDeleteThat is awesome! I would love to do that. Also, now I'm super hungry for blueberry pancakes.
ReplyDeletethat's one of those things that used to fascinate me when I read books like "Little House in the Big Woods" as a girl! the idea of making your own maple syrup... of having the REAL deal instead of the more artificial stuff (which in itself is still very hard to find here in Spain, I miss syrup!!!)
ReplyDeletealthough in the past several years I've preferred to transform my pancakes into crepes and eat them with jam or chocolate... yum!!! I save my rare syrup for french toast.
Lucky you, I haven't found maple syrup in the Netherlands yet and miss it badly. Straight from the source sounds best to me.
ReplyDeleteSweet! I heard a question on a quiz show the other night asking about when syrup is 'harvested' and I thought it was the 'fall to winter' time. But you reaffirm their answer of 'spring to summer'...I've never heard the story of how it's done. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteYour 'maple syrup' has reminded me of my young and naughty days stealing sweet juice along with my friends from 'date-palm'trees collected in earthen pots in Asom, India and getting whack'd by my mother for the crime next day.The syrup is used for preparing
ReplyDelete'Jaggery'.If kept for more than 24 hours it become 'liquor'localy called 'taari'famous all over India.
It always amazes me how much sap it takes to make just a little maple syrup. I understand why it is so expensive. Enjoy yours! :)
ReplyDeletePancakes with maple syrup is a MUST for our family dinner tonight after reading your post. Isn't it funny how you can read something and you get that instant craving and you feel that you might not survive if that craving isn't satisfied? Also, love the picture!
ReplyDeleteAhhhh....the taste of real maple syrup on pancakes!! Mmmmmm!! Our family used to buy gallons of it from my Aunt & Uncle, who lived in Ontario.
ReplyDeleteMmmm. What's better than delicious 100% maple syrup? Not much. How nice to be in an area where you can see it in its infancy, so raw and fresh. Thanks for sharing this!
ReplyDeleteA dream of mine is to someday visit the New England areas in the autumn season! I have only seen documentaries and pics, which only gets me inspired to save up for such an occasion...
ReplyDeleteNice photo. I would love to see the whole process of making the syrup!
ReplyDeleteLiving up north (Ohio) I remember the wonderful maple syrup on breakfast items. I also remember putting maple syrup on fresh snow and eating it. Those days were wonderful and the memories sweet.
ReplyDeleteGreat picture! I was working on a puzzle just recently, and in the picture, there were buckets hanging from trees. I had no idea what they were, until my husband, who knows so much random trivia, quickly pointed out, "oh, those are used to collect sap." Very cool!
ReplyDeleteI love your photo!!! Where did you take it? It was a perfect day to catch that March chill.
ReplyDeleteGretchen
Yummy! I miss the real thing!
ReplyDeleteI'm sitting here remembering 30 years back and I can smell maple syrup!
ReplyDeleteI hope this was an invitation to breakfast any time of the year!
ReplyDeleteI love the picture...nice !!!
ReplyDelete'twas my birthday when you posted this, and I happened just now to choose your blog to for my first time participating. Serendipity maybe? And like Shanita, I too didn't know this was how Maple Syrup was collected. You learn something new every day.
ReplyDelete