Maple Syrup

On Saturday a friend called to say she had 1.25 gallons of maple sap. Her husband was pruning their tree and the sap started "gushing". Of course, I was more than willing to take it off her hands! 

Before you start giggling, I know it takes a LOT more sap to make any quantity of syrup, but making syrup is something I've wanted to try for a long time, so this seemed like the perfect opportunity. 

I began by filtering the sap into a large sterilized stockpot. 

The instructions I read said to heat to 7 degrees above the boiling temperature of water. Now, I'm not a genius and I may be missing something here, but if the boiling temp of water is 212, wouldn't 7 more degrees be 219? Wouldn't it just be easier to say "heat to 219 degrees"? (Anyone who understands why the instructions were written this way, please comment below.) 

How difficult can this be? So... I turn up the heat.

...and I wait!

...and I wait!

Finally, I reach 210 degrees...not much longer now!

...and I wait!

...and I wait!

2 hours and 45 minutes later I reach 219 degrees! At this point I almost needed a telescope to see the syrup. I know you are sitting on the edge of your seats waiting to see it! Here is the final product!

Yes, that is an 8 oz jelly jar, and yes it's a little over half full. BUT...it's maple syrup! I now know why it's SO expensive in the stores!

Michelle's trees are white maples and not sugar maples so the end result is not as sweet as what we are accustomed to, but it was definitely worth the effort. 

I made maple syrup!