Rosehip-Hawthorn Maple-Black Walnut Syrup (organic)

The price: I based my price on this product, and also this one, but honestly, mine is times and times better! I don’t Infuse my Maple syrup, I melt the herbs in it! Infusing a maple syrup means they just add some vanilla in it after the maple syrup is produced, wait a bit for the flavor to go in, and that’s it.
I boil my maply syrup for hours with the herbs in it until it becomes the syrup, so it isn’t just the flavor that’s there, but all the medicinal and nutritional properties of the wonderful organic botanicals!

This is how I made my maple syrup:

• I choose the right time. The best time is when the day-night temperatures fluctuate between 40 and 20. That’s usually around the end of February, beginning of March here in Northern Pennsylvania, but it can and does vary.
• I choose the trees and tools. I drill the right holes with the correct drill bit, at the right distance, and at the right height. Hang my buckets. I have 5 good size Sugar Maples and more than a few Black Walnuts that I tap for sap. I think Black Walnut sap tastes amazing and it adds so much more nutrients and benefits to the syrup. Just pronounce this:
  

  “Rosehip-Hawthorn Maple-Black Walnut Syrup (organic)”

  there isn’t anywhere else you can get this kind of maple syrup!

• I collect the sup every day, 2-4 times a day, depending on the weather and the size of your buckets. This is a very labor-induced process!
• When I have enough sap, then I start the evaporating process. Large farms build dedicated sugar houses for that because 40 gallons of sap can only give you around 1 gallon of syrup and there is a lot of evaporation going on! Evaporation creates a lot of sticky steam, and it is impossible to do inside your home. I set up two habs with large pots and my InstaPot on my covered deck and do it there. Many steps involving filtering, transferring from pot to pot as it evaporates. When the syrup gets thicker, I save it in a separate pot and then finish it inside.

So, how do I know it is done? Well, there is more than one method to finish the syrup:  First is when it reaches the temperature of about 7 degrees above the boiling point of water… or approximately 219F if you’re around sea level. If I go too short of this, I will have too many water molecules present and my syrup will be more likely to get moldy. If I take it past this point, the syrup can crystalize.

I don’t like to rely on temperatures, it isn’t always ideal. I use a maple syrup hydrometer to bring my syrup to the correct sugar levels. It involves watching the syrup for an hour or two checking the temperatures and then when it is close to the finish line check the hydrometer reading every few minutes. Then bottle while it still scorching hot and that’s it – it will be kept if unopen for decades!