EPISODE 788 TASTING MAPLE SAP … RIGHT FROM THE TREE

alan skeoch

March 28,2023

The day began with sun and ended as bleak and dark as a Victorian novel.

I was alone at the farm slogging through snowdrifts that collapsed inward

with each footfall.   Instead of getting warmer the day was getting colder.

Nothing was being achieved.

Until I lifted  the lid of a sap pail hanging on a young maple tree.

The pail was full and overflowing.   My mouth was dry.   So I was

able to squeeze my head  into the sap pail and like a butterfly I unfold my

proboscis and ingest the pure clear sap .  Sweet as a baby’s-breath.

Cool…so cool.

Small things can  give great pleasure..

Andrew’s evaporator is state of the art….the sap boiled down from 40 to 1 comes out a light brown colour

When I did the boiling down 40 years ago, my maple syrup was as black as the night sky   Why?  because system I used was

one big black sap pan.  Open… on top of  blazing pile of wood…Lots of smoke and lots of ash.  Black syrup.   No wonder

no one wanted the stuff.  I still have 1 quart around somewhere,   Even I won’t touch it.  Another reason for rejection

was lead soldered sap pails.  Lead poisoning.   It was a good thing it was rejected.

Now join me….dip your tongue in this clear male sap.  Close our eyes.   

I am told that some entrepreneur is now selling ‘maple water’….maple sap.  Check your supermarket.

alan

The face in the shadows ?  My brother Eric.