Boil

The sap collecting began. My son carries the 5 gallon jugs and the funnel to the trees. I remove the bags and pour the sap into the jugs while my son holds  the jugs steady. He likes to go up the spout and lick the sap drops dripping from the trees. If you want a great work out, carry 5 gallon jugs filled with sap up the long driveway. Each jug weighs about 40 pounds when its full. My six trees produced about 15 gallons of sap.

My husband adjusted the fire pit with fire bricks to rest the grate on. Last year I had the set up in the driveway on cinder blocks and all the blocks cracked. He dug out the front of the fire pit for easier loading of the wood. I start the fire and then go to the wood shed to split more wood. Usually about 2-3 wheelbarrows full of wood lasts the 8 hours of burning.

My Coffeeshop buddy gave me 30 gallons of his sap to boil down again this year. He boils down until he gets sick of it then gives his surplus sap to me. I sat outside from 12pm-8pm all week long burning down sap. Once I got all of the sap evaporated down to fit 30 gallons in the pan I brought it inside to finish it off on the stove so I could keep a close eye on it. This is the stage you have to watch it because it will boil over and make a hot sticky mess. Once the sap hits 219 degrees it syrup and its ready to be filtered and poured into jars.

My 15 gallons boiled down is way lighter

My buddy's 30gallons of sap is way darker than mine

I have been trying to increase the amount of healthy fats I eat so I made Fat Bombs! They are coconut oil, almond butter, coconut flakes, nuts, craisins and extra dark chocolate. I eat these as little snacks when I am craving dessert.

RECIPE:

1 C  Coconut pil

1C   Almond Butter

1/2 C Coconut flour

1/4 C Dried Coconut flakes

1/4 C Craisins

1/4 C Slivered Almonds

2tsp Vanilla

1 tsp almond extract

1 tsp salt

Maple syrup or honey to taste- ok to skip too

1/2 bag dark chocolate chips

I melt everything in a pan over medium heat,

I scoop them into tiny wrappers.

The last step I add 4 dark chocolate chips to each one. Then stick in the fridge to harden up. They are fantastic. They will start to melt at room temp, so they need to be stored in the fridge in a zip lock bag after they harden.