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THE FURROW: The online newsletter of Howell Living History Farm

Down in the Sugar Shack

2/19/2013

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Down in the sugar shack, I listened in as farmers Jim and Allison explained the secrets of maple syruping to visiting schoolchildren.

Each child went home with a wooden tap of hollowed staghorn sumac, in case they wanted to try syruping at home.

Step one: Use a 7/16th drill bit to make a sap hole in a sugar maple. Insert a tap, and hang a bucket.

For home boiling, Jim recommends a turkey fryer. But you don’t want to boil inside your home, he advises. Do it outside.

You’re in for a long haul.  It usually takes 14 to 16 hours from raw sap to finished syrup.

A hint: Syrup boils at 219 degrees.

A mother asked if taking sap hurts the maples trees. According to Jim, a tree produces 1/3 more sap than it needs, and we usually take 1/4 of that 1/3. The trees don’t seem any worse for the letting.
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    About

    The Furrow is the online newsletter of The Friends of Howell Living History Farm. We will be updating this site about once a week with crop reports and other insights into life on a horse-drawn living history farm.

    Howell Farm is owned by Mercer County and operated by the Mercer County Park Commission.

    Funding for the Howell Living History Farm Furrow is made possible in part by an operating grant from the New Jersey Historical Commission, a division of the Department of State. 

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