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Interesting Reads |
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Excerpt from American Agriculturalist, Vol. XXIII-No. 2,
February 1864.
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Maple Sugar Making |
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The sap of the Sugar or Rock Maple when it first flows in the
spring, is to appearance nearly as clear and liquid as pure
water, and in reality it contains scarcely anything but cane
sugar. The sugar is more easily obtained in a marketable state
than from the juices of any other plant yielding sugar for commerce.
If the sap be pure and clear as it flows from the tree, it is
only necessary to boil it down in clean vessels, taking care
not to burn it, and when sufficiently concentrated, to preserve
it as molasses, or after boiling more, to pour it into moulds.
It is so easily and cheaply produced that sugar makers have
been very careless about it, using utensils of the rudest character.
The amount of uncrystallizable sugar or molasses necessarily
produced is very small, but as the molasses is quite as much
valued as sugar in most markets, this has led to some neglect
of the sap, and deteriorated the character of both sugar and
molasses. |
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Let the first fact stated above,
be fixed in the mind, viz., that pure sap yields nearly pure
sugar, and that the coloring, the quality, and much of the labor
of sugar making, result from foreign substances that get into
the sap while in the troughs, etc. Remember further, that in
the absence of these foreign materials the amount of crystallized
sugar obtained will be much greater. We see then, the importance
of securing the greatest possible cleanliness, in everything
connected with collecting and manufacturing the sap. Exposure
to the air produces fermentation, and diminishes the crystallized
sugar rapidly; therefore, covered vessels, and boiling as fast
as the sap flows, are important. Fermentation of the sap also
injures the peculiar "maple flavor" which is so greatly
relished. The quality of the sap, that is the amount of sugar
to the barrel of sap, varies considerably from year to year,
but we know of no accurate experiments touching it, nor to determine
the character of other substances present in the sap. |
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Other Articles from this Issue |
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