Waffle it!

Last time I made it a friend of mine from church allowed me to use his reverse osmosis (RO) machine.  I was amazed as I would bring in 150 gallons of sap in a container in the back of my 94 F-150, sugar content was 1.8%.  Running 150 gallons through the machine took 30 minutes and the sugar content was then 8.0% !!!! I  was most impressed.  This cut my boiling time in half so I was able to make 15 gallons of finished product (from 600+ gallons of sap) using just over 1.5 facecord of wood.  And what was really nice was because the boil time was so significantly shortened my final product had that beautiful blond/bronze color with that hint of smoke flavor.  The longer you boil, the darker the finished product becomes, in the past my final product was very dark, you could barely see through it in a 1 quart mason jar, although the flavor was nearly the same.  Prices for homemade syrup in this area goes for $ 20.00/quart.  You can get it at Meijer or Sam's in Traverse City from the big commercial outfits for $ 15.00 - $ 16.00/quart.

Takes twice the boiling time that maple syrup does also.

Originally posted by Leo B My son and grand kids make some each year!  A couple years ago they also made birch syrup also.

What does birch syrup taste like?

I'll bet that goes for a good price, even with all the work. The only thing I can equate that to, is moonshine and homemade wine in TN. The real shiner product, not the stuff they sell commercial is like gold.