Taking raw sap and boiling it down to Pure Maple Syrup involves spending many hours hobbitizing.
Yeah, that last word in the previous sentence is a #neologism, another word that you may not know, I didn't know it either.
A neologism is a newly developed or coined word that has started to fall into mainstream usage.
https://www.globallanguageservices.co.uk/what-is-a-neologism
So, do you want to know what hobbitizing means? Since I retired, the word work is no longer part of my vocabulary. It hurt me to even type that word. Instead of using that 4 letter word, I use different forms of the word hobby, that you may not find in a dictionary. As soon as something starts to feel like that word I don't use anymore, it's time to drop the tool belt and move on to another hobby. FEEL FREE TO USE THE FOLLOWING WORDS, HOBBITATIONAL and HOBBITIZING. Try it out and w--k may become more enjoyable.
Spread the word and the verb and adjective forms of hobby may become a neologism.
Time to get to the point.
Prepping the fire in advance also saves some time.
With the firewood and kindling at my fingertips, everything will be a go when my son and his family arrived. This will be a first, having some extra hands. 😀
By 8:43 all of the pans that hold four gallons of sap apiece were heating up. I filled one at a time starting at the top of this picture. By the time I'd placed the last pan on the fire, the first two were already boiling.
With the help on board at 9:00, it was time to get them hobbitizing. This little one was ready to go. Of course she wanted to do what Pop had just done, scoop off the foam.
With dad joining in on the fun, I sat fireside taking in these precious moments.
In less than an hour you could see that the sap was already turning a golden color.
Two hours later we had already added all of the cold sap and had married two pans with the three left on the fire.
In three and a half hours we had boiled away close to 34 gallons of water. The aroma of maple syrup was now infused in the surrounding air, what a wonderful scent.
At this point, it was time to move the remaining syrup into a pot. Pouring the hot liquid through a white T-shirt is the first of three times the syrup will be filtered. The residue you see here is the sugar sands that are left behind.
The following day I finished the boil inside on the stove. At this stage, you want to keep a keen eye on the boiling syrup. I've only had a boil-over once and it's not fun. Besides losing syrup it makes one heck of a sticky mess.
While keeping an eye on the boiling syrup there's plenty to do. Sterilizing all of the bottles and caps guarantees that the syrup will be able to be stored for over a year without spoiling.
At this stage of the game, it's only a matter of minutes until you're bottling that Golden liquid.
The syrup is filtered for the last time. This filter is made for syrup. Along with the heavy cotton filter, there's a pre-filter that fits into the cotton filter. I made the stand from which the filters hang.
With the last of the sugar sands removed, it's time to do my favorite part, bottle.
The gravy boat I used to bottle has some history, it was Robin's grandmother's.
Bottling the syrup and capping the bottles is done while the syrup is still piping hot. As the syrup cools, a vacuum is created that ensures the syrup will not spoil.
Mother Natures Liquid Gold
Producing Pure Maple Syrup at the level that we do is a labor of love for the great outdoors, nature, homesteading, and self-reliance. The entire process from collecting the sap to bottling it netted us just over 90 ounces of Maple Syrup. The time spent to produce what you see here has to be well over 25 hours of hobbitizing.
