This is about an hour into the boil at 9am, and it starts to fucking snow which wasn't in the forecast. Eat a dick, weather.
I was pre-heating each gallon inside on the stove to keep the outside boil going.
Was too hard to keep a consistent temperature outside, the flame was either too high or too low, so after about 7 gallons I gave up outside and went to the stovetop. Yes, all the windows inside were way steamy and my picky-ass wife complained because the house smelled like sugary candy. "What a nightmare," I told her. Bitch.
This is the last gallon, boiling it til it oozed off a spoon after cooling. I stopped watching once for like 30 seconds and it decided to boil over and made a huge sticky mess on the stovetop.
So yeah... amazing end product, but a shitload of work and lots of complaining from bitchy people. Not sure if I will bother making sap next year.
"Be bold, and mighty forces will come to your aid."
I had 25% of a quart left in the back of the fridge, and was tired of seeing it back there, so I pulled it out, today. Smelled it... still smelled like maple syrup. Swished it around a little..... big sugar crystals had formed at the bottom. Like, BIG crystals. Centimeter thick, inch long. Microwaved it to help the sugar re-dissolve into the solution, made a plate of pancakes for lunch, and chowed down. Not dead yet, so I guess I know how to preserve food.
January is coming.... gonna tap the trees again.
"Be bold, and mighty forces will come to your aid."
