Another Maple Season Complete

Maple season was long and productive for us this year. I finished the season with 10.5 gallons of maple syrup and 2 good sized batches of maple sugar candy. The sap was just about finished running on April 14 so I pulled most of the taps. A couple taps were still running a bit so I left them for another week and pulled the final taps on April 22. To make that much syrup and candy took about $60 of propane and I would guess more than that in electricity, possibly as much as $100 in electric but it's hard to tell for sure. Next year I'll be able to work it all out better since we didn't get the new propane burner until halfway through the season this year. Next year I plan to do all but the finishing with the propane burner. Our electric costs tend to be very high here ($400-$500 plus a month) so hopefully next year using more propane we will spend less for our maple. This is why pure maple syrup costs so much! It's good to be all stocked up on sweetener for another year. In addition to pouring it on pancakes maple can be used in place of cane sugar in many recipes and for sweetening drinks and more.