Can you boil maple sap down in the kitchen? I've always heard of people doing this outside, but why not inside? Mary

-- Mary Fraley (kmfraley@orwell.net), March 03, 2001

Answers

If you make it in your kitchen, it is possible that every surface will be left with a sticky residue on it. Now I've never made syrup, but this is what I've read.

-- Elizabeth Ball (Lividia66@aol.com), March 03, 2001.

Yes, you can boil it down in the kitchen. We did it numerous times, especially finishing the boiling that way after it had gotten dark outside, having boiled it out there all day on the outdoor grill. I think that most people boil it outside because the conversion rate is so high of sap/syrup that they want to put on a very large pan that their stove would not accomodate (ours was about 20 gallons). I don't remember particularly any sticky mess inside -- you don't want to have the syrup at a rolling boil, or it will burn and ruin the whole batch, what you're trying to do is evaporate off the water at a simmer. And a friend of mine syrups his woods every spring -- his pan measures about 4' x 6' by 1' deep, and is out in the sugar shack as a permanent fixture, due to the size.

-- julie f. (rumplefrogskin@excite.com), March 03, 2001.

Sure you can. A lot will depend on how much you want to make. Remember, all that water vapor you put in the air has to go somewhere. Be prepared for a very humid house. Some sticky residue will end up on and around your stove and be very careful not to let it boil over. It makes quite the mess on a stovetop. Just apped our trees today. Will do most of the boiling outside, but we do finish inside where we can control the heat a little better. Nothing tastes as good, so have fun.

-- ray s (mmoetc@yahoo.com), March 03, 2001.

Thank you. I actually posted this for a friend who wants to make syrup in small batches in her kitchen. I told her I was concerned about sticky cabinets and walls, but it seems that may not be a problem. I'll relay the advice to her. Mary

-- Mary Fraley (kmfraley@orwell.net), March 03, 2001.

Mary: Also tell her to try freezing the sap first. In theory the water will freeze out, leaving a much more concentrated sap so you don't have to process it as long.

-- Ken S. in WC TN (scharabo@aol.com), March 03, 2001.

We made syrup in our kitchen this year. We had read that it would make a horrible sticky mess but didn't experience that at all. Since we keep our wood stove going all day as a source of heat and it seemed a waste not to use it for the syrup. We only tapped 4 trees so didn't make a lot of syrup. We did find that we boiled the syrup down a bit too much, sometimes making a carmel. Next year we hope to tap more trees and intend to use the cookstove again. For people who heat with wood, I would think a woodburning heat source of any type would suffice. Kim

-- kim (fleece@eritter.net), March 03, 2001.

A word of warning: When we lived on the farm, a neighbor lady decided to boil down the sap from their five or six trees on the kitchen woodstove. Remember now, it takes 20 to 36 gallons of sap to make one gallon of syrup. That's a lot of water vapor to pump into the air. Anyway, after two days every piece of wallpaper on the first floor had peeled off the walls from all the humidity, and her white kitchen ceiling had acquired a sticky golden-brownish tinge. I've heard of people having better luck boiling down the sap outside and just finishing off the syrup inside. We did the whole operation over a firepit by the wood shed. Less muss, less fuss. And eggs hardboiled in bubbling sap are indescribably good.

-- Cash (cash@andcarry.com), March 04, 2001.

I tried boiling sap down in the kitchen. Yup. Peeled all the wallpaper right off! Water was even running down the walls. If you can set a box fan in a window to blow out some of the water vapor that will help. Pretty much like an expensive, big sauna! I _DO_ finish the sap in the kitchen. Takes a lot of energy to boil off. Probably cheaper to boil outside over propane or wood.

-- Gailann Schrader (gtschrader@aol.com), March 05, 2001.

If at all possible boil outside using wood or a gas burner with a 16 quart pot on it. All the water vapor emitted inside is not good for the walls, wallpaper etc. I remember the first year we boiled sap. We set up a wood burner (cement blocks) with a 30"X 40" pan under the woodshed roof to protect us somewhat from the elements. Well let me tell you with the roof being metal we found out what a tropical rainforest must be like. Once the sap started to boil the roof dripped continuously. We now have a small setup in the barn complete with hood and stack to direct the steam outside. In fact I've thought about trying to divert some of the steam to make a sauna on the second story of the barn. Any thoughts on this idea? Tell your friend to get a copy of Backyard Sugarin. It has some great ideas for people just starting out.

-- Peter (pdfitz@mkl.ckom), March 05, 2001.

I'll repeat what others have said: Make sure you don't let it boil over. I did that once on an electric stove while "finishing off" some syrup. Went to the bathroom and that's when it decided to bubble over the top. GEEZ, what a mess!! Nothing to mention the smell of burnt sugary syrup all through the house.

-- Chelsea (rmbehr@istar.ca), March 07, 2001.