Syrup reaches the right sugar concentration when it’s boiling at 7° above its initial boiling point, which in most areas is 212° F. For small batches, Morse advises, head indoors to finish it off. Pour it into a large pot and crank up your kitchen stove, making sure the syrup’s at least an inch deep […]
To decipher whether your syrup is almost done boiling, stick a clean straightedge into your pan–a wide knife, say–then lift it out. If the liquid doesn’t drip but instead rolls off in a sheet, you’re ready for the final stage.
Keep a good book nearby; learn to whittle; turn on the radio. Why? Sugaring introduces a lot of downtime. “My dad would start smoking, and I’d find gum wrappers all over the sugarhouse,” says Morse. “One time I accused him of being bored. He didn’t want to admit it. Finally, he just said, ‘Well, it’s […]
The hotter the fire, the better, says Morse, who recommends soft-wood slabs to feed the flames. “Simmering is not a friend of maple syrup,” he notes. When the sap threatens to boil over, throw in a pat of butter to calm the froth.
Reduce boiling time by sticking your sap in a freezer, long enough so that its outer edges begin to freeze solid. The solid stuff is excess water; what remains is the sweet stuff you want. “You often average 2 percent sap, but this way you might be able to get it up to 4 or […]
You don’t need those postcard-perfect (and expensive) metal buckets to collect your sap. Morse says plastic milk jugs serve the same purpose. Just drill a small hole into the side opposite the handle to hang the jug; when it’s filled, you’ll have something to grab. Other low-cost items: retired five-gallon buckets for sap collection, used […]
You’ll never suck enough sap from a tree to kill it, but you can injure it if you don’t vary your drill spots each year. Morse is a big fan of steel health spouts, which slip into holes drilled with a 5/16th-inch bit; you can pick them up at supply stores such as Bascom Maple […]
Monday The snowballs were quite epic today. You see, it was just warm enough to create perfect snowball conditions, and yet maintain a nice soft snow surface to ski upon whilst having a downhill snowball fight. Hypothetically, that is. I would not be playing with snowballs while performing my duties as a patroller. Well, at […]
Don Haska and Maureen Gannon were married at the top of the monument on May 20, 1995. The bride climbed all 294 steps in her wedding gown. The Bunker Hill Monument has appeared in several movies. The most recent was The Town, Ben Affleck’s 2010 tale of bank robbers in Charlestown. The cornerstone for the […]
All but lost to the ages were the lives of child laborers in Winchendon, Massachusetts, photographed a century ago by Lewis Hine. Then Joe Manning went looking for “the most beautiful girl in American history.” [slideshow post_id=”96351″] DON’T MISS: More Child Labor Photos by Lewis HineGet Our FREE Yankee Best New England Vacations Guide! Email(Required) […]
On June 12, 2010, Daniel Nava broke into the major leagues by hitting the first pitch he saw at Fenway Park over the right-field fence and into the Red Sox bullpen for a grand-slam home run–only the second time anyone had done that in the history of the game. Undersized and not recruited out of […]
MARCH Vermont Flower Show (Essex Junction, VT) March 4-6. 802-425-5117; greenworksvt.org Portland Flower Show (Portland, ME) March 10-13. 207-775-4403; portlandcompany.comGet Our FREE Yankee Best New England Vacations Guide! Email(Required) Subscribe Boston Flower & Garden Show / Blooms! (Boston, MA) March 16-20. 781-237-5533, thebostonflowershow.com; 617-933-4900, masshort.org Seacoast Home & Garden Show (Durham, NH) March 26-27. 207-935-2845; […]
