Unfortunately, this year's sugarbush season is likely coming to an earlier end than usual, said Montague Commoners in their monthly newsletter.
The Saturday, March 25 community boil was canceled due to the group not having enough sap to boil. This is a result of fluctuating weather conditions, limiting the amount of sap that will come from tapping. In order to properly tap a maple tree, the weather outside requires the temperature to be above freezing during the day and below freezing at night. The Commoners are going to continue trying to tap and boil until the very end of the season, but it may be coming to an end earlier than desired due to the rapidly changing weather.
Despite being unable to boil March 25, Montague Commoners organizer Wiley Fry used the time to finish converting their first batch of sap into syrup. They also explained the process with their new equipment they got for this year's sugarbush season, including a new filtering and canning system for syrup.
The group uses an environmentally friendly biochar for the heating process. The completed syrup concentration usually equates to 67% when it is taken off the heat, said Fry. At the end of this process, the syrup is then poured into half-gallon jars, which are placed in the refrigerator until they are ready to be finished boiling.
This is when their new canner with two settings is put into use, which can hold up to eight ounces of syrup. When in boiling mode, the concentrate is heated to continually boil off the remaining percentage of water. When in canning mode, a thermostat is used to keep the syrup at the perfect temperature, which begins the filtering process. This prevents the syrup from having a “gritty texture and cloudy appearance.” The new canner keeps the syrup at the perfect temperature of 185 degrees to prevent new sugar sands from being formed during the filtration process.
After some trial and error, the Montague Commoners successfully produced their first batch of syrup for the season and are feeling more confident in the new canner.
For updates on community boils and more information on maple tree taping, visit the Montague Commoners Facebook page.
