Maple-beer wet-cured bacon
A refrigerated pork-belly brine combines beer and maple syrup with salt, garlic powder and measured Cure #1.
Traditional method
Maple syrup (batch method)
maple syrup (small batch)
Maple sap of about two percent sugar boiled down in a shallow pan until it reaches syrup density, the sugar concentration the standard defines, then filtered hot and packed hot.
Sap at about two percent sugar
Maple syrup is sap from sugar and black maple trees, boiled until most of its water has gone. The sap is only about 2 percent sugar, which is why the batch needs about 43 gallons of sap for each gallon of syrup. The University of Minnesota leaflet gives that ratio for sap at this strength, and says the batch is less when the sap is sweeter.
The leaflet credits American Indians with the discovery of the conversion and places maple products in local trade before 1620. It names sugar and black maple as the commercial sources and records Vermont and New York as the largest producing states in 1976.
Sources for this section
Boiling it down
The leaflet's batch method uses a large, shallow pan, which spreads the heat and lets the water leave quickly. Sap is added as the level drops, and foam is skimmed from the surface. As the sap concentrates, its boiling point rises above that of water. The end point is reached when the syrup boils seven degrees above the boiling point of water, or when a refractometer shows syrup density. Utah State's fact sheet gives the regulatory standard: at least 66 percent soluble solids by weight.
Near the end the boil must be watched closely to prevent burning. Utah State notes that the flavour comes partly from heating, so the time spent boiling affects the syrup. It also describes reverse-osmosis preconcentration to about 4 percent sugar; the sources do not establish how that changes the finished flavour.
Filtering and packing
The finished syrup is filtered while hot through wool or another suitable filter to remove sugar sand, which settles out of the concentrate. It is packaged while hot, at no less than 180 °F (82 °C), which the leaflet gives as the means of preventing spoilage in storage.
The leaflet gives no storage time for the packed syrup. For sap, it gives four or five days in cold, well-stored conditions and no longer period. A thermometer calibrated at least 15 degrees above the boiling point of water is the leaflet's instrument for the end point.
Sources for this section
History
The University of Minnesota leaflet says American Indians are generally credited with discovering the conversion of maple sap into syrup, and that maple products were important in local trade before the Pilgrims arrived in 1620.
Ingredients
Yield 1 gal syrup per 43 gal sap at about 2% sugar · Scaling: source batch only
Maple sapcollected and boiled as soon as possible
162.8 L43 gal as recorded
Per gallon of syrup from sap at about 2% sugar; less if the sap is sweeterMethod
Risks and precautions · Standard risk
Scorching near the end point
The leaflet warns to control the boil near the end to prevent burning and overheating.
Hazard sourcePackage the syrup hot.
Control sourceMost of the sap's volume leaves as steam; boiling indoors puts that water into the room.
- Collect sap and boil it down as soon as possible. During prolonged flows, collect at least every two or three days. In low temperatures with favourable storage, sap may be kept four or five days without lowering syrup quality.
- Fill the evaporating pan, preferably a large shallow one, with sap and heat to boiling, taking care not to burn or scorch it.
- As the level drops by evaporation, add more sap. Skim foam and other material from the surface when needed.
- Continue until most of the sap in the pan is highly concentrated and its boiling point starts to rise above that of water. Control the boil carefully near the end to prevent burning.
- Finish when the syrup boils seven degrees above the boiling point of water (the unit is not printed in the leaflet), or when a refractometer shows syrup density. Maple syrup is defined as at least 66% soluble solids by weight (Utah State, citing FDA).
- Filter the syrup while hot through wool or another suitable filter to remove sugar sand.
- Package while hot, at no less than 180 °F (82 °C).
Conditions
Yield1 gal syrup per 43 gal sap at about 2% sugar
Temperature controlAmbient, monitored
Places
Minnesota
Documented preparation · Region evidenceWhere the University of Minnesota leaflet was published; it names sugar and black maple as the commercial sources. Not a claim of origin.
Vermont and New York
Documented preparation · Region evidenceThe largest producing states in 1976, according to the same leaflet.
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Sources
University of Minnesota Agricultural Extension Service, Forestry No. 11-1976 (date read from the OCR text; probable)Method · History · Storage
Homemade Maple SyrupBatch method; shallow pan; seven degrees above the boiling point; hot filtering; packing at 180 °F; 43 gallons to 1 gallon; history
Cited in: Sap at about two percent sugar; Boiling it down; Filtering and packing
Utah State University Extension, with The Forest Farmers, LLC (date not printed)Method · Science
044 - Maple Sap Collection and Sap Processing Systems (Utah Forest Facts)66% soluble solids standard; reverse osmosis; flavour from heating; refractometer; revised Jones rule
Cited in: Boiling it down