maple sap- can i freeze to reduce boiling time

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Any maple syrup makers out there? We tapped several maple trees in our yard. We boiled down the first batch of sap over a wood fire and it worked fine. But we have just finished collecting a much heavier second run of sap and we are out of storage containers and expecting more sap tomorrow. Can we freeze the sap and remove the ice to reduce the volume of sap that needs to be boiled down? Will we lose any syrup by throwing out the ice? Thanks!

-- mary in minnesota (namwen64@juno.com), April 06, 2002

Answers

Yes, we're maple producers so I can answer your questions.

You can but it isn't very successful. You will lose some of the syrup and you will not get the great maple flavor. We do toss the ice in buckets, if there isn't too much and it is mostly melted, but a better idea is to find some way of storing the sap. There has been research on this. Something else to keep in mind is that the sap is very perishable. It needs cooked as quickly as possible.

-- dee (ibedee@juno.com), April 06, 2002.


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