Mmmhhhmmm...maple syrup! Just had some last night on blueberry/chopped walnut pancakes I made. Super good. It is interesting to hear that about Acer negundo -Box Elder-sap working well. We could tap the hell out of those crudballs! Maybe we'd get a little of that red color in the syrup sap, like the heartwood on box elder. You guys must have seen that, right? In any case, all tree sap has as one of its key aspects, the carrying of sugar from place to place within the plant, so it should be no surprise that species other than Acer saccharum should work for this, albeit pehaps some not as well. +oM ps...........A friend from long-ago days, grew up poor on a ramshackle farm. His dad wanted to do a little of everything, but the methodology wasn't always the tightest. They'd tap trees out in the sugarbush, bring the sap into the saphouse, and boil it down, just like you're supposed to. So what was wrong you ask? Old tires were burned as the fuel to boil the sap down!

This is not the first time we have made our own maple syrup. And yes, Manitoba maple trees make wonderful maple syrup, I think it is just as good as Ontario maple syrup. Manitoba maple trees...the sap you have to boil down a bit more than the sugar trees that are used in Ontario. So for every 44 gallons of sap collected we would get one gallon of syrup. We do not collect it with the "Belgins and the wagon" ...my son and DH will use the ATV and the little homemade trailer with a miniature water tank on the back of the trailer. We have a large flat tray which we have on top of a wood burning stove. The stove is out in a shed that we can swing open the doors at each end up. I would never want to do it in the house...too much humidity. We collect the sap, empty the jugs into a large round barrel that has a hose connected to the bottom of it. As my DH gets the sap boiling this hose is opened up just enough to add a little sap into the already boiling sap. It takes hours and hours to finish a batch of syrup. We have the sugar testing "thermometer looking" instrument that we use that tells us the sugar concentration of the liquid. Of course, we are never hungry those days, 'cause of all the taste testing a person "has" to do. We put the finished syrup into little jug containers (that you can buy maple syrup in the stores in) to give to others or just use glass canning jars if doing it for ourselves. I use maple syrup when cooking apples and squash. I also love homemade maple butter...I put it on toast. An interesting thing...I can only make maple butter on sunny days. It will not work if I make it on a cloudy day. Something to do with the humidity in the air...it doesn't let it set right. It is an experience to make homemade maple syrup. I have even had a nursing home bring out a van full of their residents on an activity/excursion (whatever you call it) one year. I made homemade biscuits for them and tea and they all seemed to really enjoy themselves. I will post pictures (probably starting tomorrow) with what we are doing, okay? Brenda

Ciao wayblinkfaster, So where are you? Canada is a big country, you know. I think you went too far in killing your extra plants. Next time, you might consider donating them to food banks, churches, or getting involved in a gardening group and participating in some plant swaps. I grow lots of extra tomato plants and I always find homes for them. Community gardens are also desperate for plants most days. Cheers and good for you on your successes, Julianna

I wouldn't think it would take a lot of water to make the syrup a bit less sweet, and I don't see the harm since its current state has had lots of water removed (use distilled so you're not adding other flavorants). The problem is that while you're diluting the sweet, you're also diluting the maple flavor. Why not try a different grade of syrup? Grade B (which is a differentiation label not a quality scale level) is dark and very maple-y. You could use less of it and get the same flavor as if you were using more of the "Fancy" grade.