Second in a three-part series

Jim Burns picks up freshly split wood to keep the fire burning at his Ayer Road sugar house. (Photo by Lisa Aciukewicz)

Last year what started out as a lark at my house, “Hey, let’s have a sap boil!” ended with about a pint and a half of maple syrup, a sooty pan, and my husband and son reminding me that it was much easier to buy the stuff at the store. Unfazed, I was determined to improve upon last year’s experiment, stock our pantry shelves with homemade maple syrup, and teach my grandchildren that Mrs. Butterworth’s is not better.

When I reviewed the workshop schedule for the 2008 winter conference of the Northeast Organic Farmers’ Association (NOFA), I spotted one that sounded like it was made for me: “Making a Gallon or Two of Maple Syrup”—a beginner workshop. I promptly registered for the conference, and in January joined farm and garden enthusiasts from all over the state for this farming education-fest in Worcester.

The maple syrup workshop did not disappoint. I took notes all over the handout provided by the workshop leader, Tom Bratko of Hubbardston. He told attendees he’d been making “a gallon or two” of syrup for a number of years at his Hubbardston farm. He showed us slides, and brought in equipment for us to see. Although he was still a hobbyist himself, he had gotten a little more serious over the years and invested in a small amount of professional equipment, including some evaporator pans, an outdoor oven, a wool filter, a hydrometer, and hydrometer cup. The last two caught my attention. These two items, he said, would help determine when the syrup was done. He said the way to determine doneness of syrup without a hydrometer is to measure the temperature of the boiling sap with a candy thermometer, and when it reaches 7 degrees above the boiling point of water for that day, it would be done. That still sounded like too much of a black art to me; I made a mental note to buy a hydrometer.

Tom told us to fill the evaporator pan only 3 to 4 inches deep, and to make sure never to lose the boil. He said that sap could be added to the pan without causing the boil to stop by adding it via a “piggyback” pan, which sat on top of the evaporator pan, preheating any sap added to it. When I thought back to last year’s experience, where we kept a stock pot filled with sap and kept removing the pot from the grill to replenish the fire, thereby losing the boil repeatedly, I wondered how we ever got any good syrup at all.

I went home from the conference eager to put the new things I’d learned into practice. First, I ordered a hydrometer and hydrometer cup. This year there would be no question as to when the syrup was done.

Next, I realized we needed a different type of fire pit, one that could be front-loaded without disturbing the pot of boiling sap. And it would have to be temporary, as there was no place in our yard where we could set up a permanent pit for sap-boiling. My husband and I headed to Lowe’s to buy cinder blocks for a makeshift hearth. Then, after a call to a local appliance store, we found out about an appliance graveyard in a nearby town and went there to look for racks to cook on; we came home with two.

Recalling the classroom example of a “piggyback” pan that would allow the addition of sap to the pot without losing the boil, I searched for something I could use that would accomplish the same thing. I found a metal colander that could easily be propped on the top of our stock pan, lined it with foil, and poked a tiny hole in the bottom. Water drizzled out at what I thought was just the right rate when I tested it.

It was too early to set taps, but in preparation my husband and I dug out the equipment we’d used last year—the plastic milk jugs and the taps—and cleaned it well.

My enthusiasm at the prospect of making more maple syrup must have been contagious, because my husband urged me to expand our inventory of taps. I bought the last four in stock at the local hardware store, bringing our collection to eight. We rigged up more milk-jug sap buckets, by drilling a hole in each one just above the handle and buying tubing that would fit in the hole as well as over the tap. A wire loop on each handle would anchor the jug to the hook on the tap. We were ready. All we needed was a spell of daytime temperatures around 40 degrees, and nighttime temperatures below freezing.

Next: It's syrup!