Posted: 8/26/2008 4:25:38 AM EDT
Anybody know a place to mail order bulk maple syrup at a decent price? I don't expect it to be cheap, but I'd like it to be cheaper than the $13 per quart I just spent at CostCo. (Don't bother suggesting that I just buy "pancake syrup" as I won't spend a nickel on that HFCS-laden crap much less feed it to my kids  )
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I'm sure you can find bulk somewhere on the net. What is your devious intent? If you are willing the lesser grade darker stuff is just as tasty and a little cheaper. Google is your friend. Who's your buddy? Come to Papa. Hell, you do it. |
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VT maple is a favorite of ours. We drive up there frequently, and will usually get a gallon. Go to one of the local sugarhouses in season, and you can watch the process, right down to filling and sealing the bottles for sale. You can buy them still hot. Cold nights and warm days make the sap run. Get up there now, stock up. good stuff |
| I would not try to make it myself. The fact of the matter... it takes approx 40 gallons of sap (which is dam near water when it starts, 98% on average which make 2 percent sugar) to make 1 gallon of syrup.. which will break down as an average tree producing on average 10 gallons of sap per year enough for 1 quart..... THUS I dont mind spending a few extra clams when I buy the stuff. BUT if I can find it cheaper, then I will be on it like donkey kong. Guess I will have to try the place mentioned and give the UPS guy a work out goin up the few flights of stairs to my place. |
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I buy mine locally every great once in a while at our "Maple Syrup Festival" if I go. I seldom eat pancakes or anything, so it's worth the $6 or so a pint to me. Just what is your devious plan? It just reminded me of some hippies I used to know who scraped their money together and bought a bunch of magic mushrooms. They packed them in honey and buried them for future use. About a month later one of the hippies went to "check" on the burial site and discovered someone else must have "checked" on them already, lol. He was bummed, dude  Sorry for the thread hijack there. Speed |
Mine? Just planting a bunch of sugar maples to replace the red oaks that are dropping like flies from oak wilt, and thinking there was some potential there for a little syrup making, just like the chicken and bee folks. Now I find out the stuff goes for $60 a gallon, and I get to thinking that there could potentially be some profit in that there hobby. I just need to figure out how to keep those damn deer from topping my saplings. They apparently prefer maple leafs to pretty much anything else in my woods. I wonder if it's a numbers game, where you just have to plant so damn many that they can't possibly eat them all, so enough get big by sheer chance. |
Hot |
Hmm, sounds like a man of your talents needs to find a sugar bush owner/maple syrup maker that will swap salsa for syrup. I'm betting syrup prices are going to rise this year. A guy that processes with wood fire will be more stable than the guy burning a gas flame. All things being equal and all. |
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I spent a summer on a farm in Ottawa when I was about ten. Amongst other agricultural activities, we did a little sugaring. Even in the summer the sap flows. The family wouldn't boil it down all the way for home use. I'd say maybe half the viscosity of the commercial product and then they'd just flavor Karo syrup with it. What really surprised me was how little sap you get from each tree. Imagine a leaky faucet. Just an occasional drip. I kind of envisioned it like milk from a cow. |
| I know you can put one tap in when they reach 10" diameter, two taps @ 20". We have Norway Maples in our front yard that went from 2-3" to ~8" in about 4 years. Assuming Sugar Maples grow at a similar rate, the saplings I've planted should reach 10" diameter in under 10 years. If only I had planted them when I first moved in... |
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Feral, I was in Somerst this summer, stopped at a farmer's market and purchased some Pennsylvania maple syrup. I don't remember the price, it was a reflex vacation-purchase. They have a website: http://www.emericksmaple.com/ and sell on eBay: http://stores.ebay.com/Emericks-Pure-Maple-Products The interesting part of their operation, they first use reverse osmosis to remove the water and then finish with heat to boil off the water. HTH John |
I've read that has become pretty common. Makes sense, considering the inherent inefficiency in boiling off water. If you can run an RO system to get you 80% there, you have saved time and money in the process. |
Cool link. Thanks for posting it.  Those folks are a road trip from me, but that might make for a nice family outing. Their prices are certainly reasonable and I've definitely got nothing against buying some syrup from PA.  |