Beemaster's International Beekeeping Forum
ALMOST BEEKEEPING - RELATED TOPICS => FARMING & COUNTRY LIFE => Topic started by: skflyfish on March 03, 2011, 07:44:55 pm
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I stopped by the local Amish store for some supplies and took a glance at the price of maple syrup.
$58.00 per gallon! :shock: Of course, even more in smaller quantities.
Ouch!
Glad I make my own. :-D
Sure makes honey look cheap, which was selling at $25 per gallon last fall.
Makes one wonder what honey prices will be like this year.
Jay
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honey would be priced similarly if the beekeeper had to evaporate the excess moisture by hand as well!
deknow
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I stopped by the local Amish store for some supplies and took a glance at the price of maple syrup.
$58.00 per gallon! :shock: Of course, even more in smaller quantities.
Ouch!
Glad I make my own. :-D
Sure makes honey look cheap, which was selling at $25 per gallon last fall.
Makes one wonder what honey prices will be like this year.
Jay
how many trees you gota tap for a gallon and whats the time frame-I have been wondering since i got the betterbee cat and they sell kits-dont think it is viable in my state though but very curious--RDY-B
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50 to 55 gals of sap boil down to one gal of syrup. The although I have many trees I tap 3 - 4 big ones at the edge of the woods and can get my 55 gals in just a few days. Each tree gets 3 - 4 taps
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what color is the sap before the Boiling down--RDY-B
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You only need to get $4.83 per pound to get $58 a gallon for your honey.
There is a local Amish ran produce auction - I think half gallons of syrup were going for $15-$18, and $8-$10 for quarts.
A gallon of honey sells for $38 here. You have to buy 5 gallons (and often a 55 gallon drum) to get it for the $2 a pound comparable to the $25/gallon you quoted.
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what color is the sap before the Boiling down--RDY-B
Close to clear. Sometimes a slight tint. The brown comes from caramelization of sugars.
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rdy-b,
Does California have sugar or red maples? Or yellow birch?
Sugar maples have the highest sugar concentration. Usually 40-45 gallons of sap per gallon of syrup. Some make syrup from red maples which is more in the 50-60 gallons of sap per gallon of syrup. In Alaska only have yellow birch and I believe it takes around 80 gallons of sap to make a gallon of syrup.
And yes the sap is nearly clear, to a slight brown tint, if it freezes and you can remove the ice.
I agree with Danno's comment from another thread that though the first sap run is prized by many, I like sap from the end of the run, where it gets darker and to me, more flavorful.
Usually tapping in the north begins from mid-Febraruy to mid-March. It flow when the day time temps are above freezing and the night time temps are below freezing. What you are collecting is the sap that is stored in the roots during the winter. Sap can run for as little as a week or as long as a month. Just depends on the weather. The more canopy the tree has the higher the sugar concentration, plus fertility of the soil plays a factor too.
HTH,
Jay
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Country Boy,
There are a couple of counties east of me that get very high gallons per hive ratios and that sets the price for honey in areas that don't produce as well, like my county. Kinda tough to get a decent price last year.
On an unrelated note, you grow a lot of heirloom tomatoes! Enjoyed your videos on the varieties. I will probably PM you on a couple of varieties.
Jay
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The honey market is larger than your county and surrounding counties. Try selling to people other than who the other beekeepers are selling to. Charge a fair price - people will pay it. Don't feel the need to tie your price to everyone else's.
I didn't record all my varieties of tomatoes this year...I had close to 150 varieties this year.
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...someone told me today that some maple syrup producers trap the water boiled off from the sap. Due to the (at least perceived) purity of the water distilled from sap that has been purified by the tree, combined with the large volume of water, they get more $$$ from the water than they do the syrup!
deknow
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That makes sense.
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...someone told me today that some maple syrup producers trap the water boiled off from the sap. Due to the (at least perceived) purity of the water distilled from sap that has been purified by the tree, combined with the large volume of water, they get more $$$ from the water than they do the syrup!
I don't know any syrup producers who condense the steam and sell it. But if there's a buyer - go for it.
I do know that if you make maple syrup by boiling the sap on the kitchen stove like my brother and I did our first year, you have to do a lot of scrubbing in the house for Mom because everything gets a sticky film. Windows are very noticeable - so I doubt the steam is as pure as people might think. From my experience, it still has some sugars in it.
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@deknow.
Interesting. I agree with CB, there is a lot of sugar in the steam. So with condensing it, the sugars would become residual in the water. To keep it from spoiling, it would have to contain a preservative or canned. The first option would negate the purity, I believe.
Jay
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I would think that if there is a market for the water, that the guys that use the RO systems before the boil would have a corner on that market
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Just for the hoot of it, I am thinking of trying to make maple syrup from my silver maples next year. I read it is possible but would require even more sap. Has anyone tryed silver maple and does anyone think it is worth the effort? It would be just something to do. Thanks Scott
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I have not tried silvers only because I have 100+ sugarmaples but they will work. You can even tap boxelders and make syrup
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Will other types of maples work or does it have to be a sugar maple?
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all maples work. even box elder that is a member of the maple family but sugar and black maples put out the most, highest quality sap
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Why don't they tap maples in other parts of the country like say in Oregon or california?
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they don't get the proper weather conditions to make syrup. it's pretty much confined to the northern us ( from minnesota eastward ) and southeastern canada, although there are some people in the appalachians that are able to make syrup also.
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You can tap birch also but yields less than sugar maples.
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You can tap birch also but yields less than sugar maples.
We have a local guy who taps and makes syrup from shagbark hickory trees. He also makes syrup from poplar trees.
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i had heard you could make syrup from birch and shagbark hickory and black walnut and even sycamore, but i hadn't ever heard poplar mentioned until now. i can't wait until feb. four weeks of pure chaos in the woods and soon after that it will be time for bees again.
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i bought a gallon of maple syrup a couple months ago for 50 bucks, it was so runny like water. I assume it was not boiled enough. I guess i got ripped off. Ive had much thicker and taster syrup, BEWARE is all I can say
I sell a gallon of honey for 65.00. Noone has complained yet
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i bought a gallon of maple syrup a couple months ago for 50 bucks, it was so runny like water. I assume it was not boiled enough. I guess i got ripped off. Ive had much thicker and taster syrup, BEWARE is all I can say
I sell a gallon of honey for 65.00. Noone has complained yet
not necessarily true. maple syrup will vary in thickness and color depending upon the sugar content of the raw sap. most people think it is to watery because they are used to thicker "pancake syrup". maple syrup is required by law to be boiled until it reaches a minimum of 66 brix. the higher the percentage of sugar in the raw sap means less water needing to be boiled off, which means less carmelization of the syrup and the end result is a thinner, lighter colored syrup. a lower concentration of sugar in the raw sap requires more evaporation to concentrate the sugar, causing more carmelization and a darker thicker syrup.
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And yes the sap is nearly clear, to a slight brown tint, if it freezes and you can remove the ice.
When I was young, my father used to let the sap sit overnight and remove the ice before we started to boildown the sap. The ice was a sweet treat for the long day ahead.
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In 54 years I have never had a winter this mild. Just wondering how this will effect the sap flows? My gardens all think its spring.
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this weather is crazy, i wanted to tap this weekend but couldn't and now the weather is dropping to single digits next weekend so it looks like i won't be tapping for a while yet. i probably lost almost a full weeks worth of sap.
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Any of you sugarer folks end up with syrup to sell? Or know where I can get good syrup shipped from?
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i bought a gallon of maple syrup a couple months ago for 50 bucks, it was so runny like water. I assume it was not boiled enough. I guess i got ripped off. Ive had much thicker and taster syrup, BEWARE is all I can say
syrup you buy from the local sugar shack will be a lot thinner. My uncle and now my cousins make it in NY. the stuff they reject gets sold to the syrup manufacturer's to make your store bought pancake syrup