Finishing Maple and Black Walnut Syrup

To view the latest from Ridge Berry Farm visit our new blog and site!

First we'd like to wish everyone a Happy Easter. Although we had a surprising snow fall this week, it is really beginning to feel like Spring.

This week we decided to stop the tapping of our Maple trees and start finishing our syrup. Technically we probably could have collected sap a bit longer, but we were also keen to start on our Birch trees as well.

Our objective this year was to increase our Maple syrup production and we certainly managed this by tapping a few more trees. Our process was changed however since we did this as a single batch. We acquired a large 60 litre pot to which we continuously added sap as it was evaporated. The entire thing was heated by a propane burner.

Our batch processing set-up for Maple syrup

As we continuously added sap each and every day of our collection, it slowly took on a dark amber shade. Once the container was half evaporated on the last day of collection, it was time to finish the syrup indoor.

We had filtered every batch of sap, but before finishing the syrup we filtered it again to prevent the occurrence of Maple sand (the crystallization of natural  minerals like calcium and magnesium).

Second filtration of the Maple sap

One of the obvious findings this year is that the syrup would turn dark. We also noticed that the sap had a very high sugar content (just handling it off the trees made our fingers sticky). We also noticed that some of our trees generated a yellowish sap which was the sweetest of all (we had to try it). Perhaps the trees this year stored much sugar than last year, as a result of the bitterly cold Winter.

Differences in sap colour seemed to also indicate differences in sugar content

Back in our professional kitchen, we loaded our sap after final filtration and started another boil. We used a candy thermometer to monitor the progress in syrup production.

The kitchen set-up for syrup finishing

The point at which the syrup is done is when the boil is sustainable at 4 degrees C above the boiling point of water (104 degrees C at sea level...which proves good enough for us in the Niagara Peninsula). For those at significant altitude, all you need to do is first boil water to determine its boiling temperature and then add 4 degrees to this.

One of the things we did notice is that you can almost tell things are done by sight. When the sap boils at 100 degrees C, the movement is rapid and turbulent. When the syrup stage is reached, a massive amount of small bubbles are created on the surface.

Boiling at 100 degrees C

Boiling at the syrup stage

After quickly getting the syrup off the stove, it was time to bottle. We're really pleased with the finished results and will be selling these at the market.

Ridge Berry Farm Maple syrup: "cuvee" 2014

With the Maple syrup done it was also time to conclude our Black Walnut syrup experiment. Having tapped a couple of trees, we really wanted to see if this syrup is also worth producing.

The process is identical to making Maple syrup, however it should be noted that Black Walnut syrup consists of both fructose and sucrose (Maple is primarily sucrose). Our Birch syrup experiment last year proved that fructose was much more sensitive to heavy boiling in the finishing stage (and as such easy to burn).

We noticed that the Black Walnut was also sensitive but perhaps not as much as Birch.

So what did we end up with....3 little jugs of a fine syrup which was surprisingly good with some floral and nutty tones (not the heavy Black Walnut taste we were expecting).

Our Black Walnut syrup

The ratios of sap to syrup turned out to be similar to Birch (roughly 80 to 1). As such, Black Walnut syrup is an expensive product to make. Things are a bit worse than Birch since it seems that Black Walnuts do not produce as much sap (although we still need to look into the timing for tapping these trees).

In the end, this was an experiment worth completing and next year we expect to have Black Walnut syrup on our market shelves.

With this work complete, we could now look forward to Birch syrup production. Last year was an experiment, this year we aim to produce enough to sell.

Tapping Birch

On a final note this week, someone decided to drop off some apples and some great apple cider at the side of the barn....Thank You!

The latest "freebie" dropped off at the barn

Over the past year we have really benefited from the kindness of friends and neighbours. We have received everything from Apples, Quinces, Peaches, Grapes, Nuts, etc.  even help with snow removal.

This has given us an idea. We will not discuss it now, but you can expect an interesting announcement in June, when our first berries are picked.

We will conclude this blog entry with a quick photo taken this week. Hopefully this will be the last snow we see in a long while.

Pelham in mid-April???