Speaking of Maple Syrup

I ran across this old picture of "Syrup on Snow" and it reminded me of
my childhood when we used to do this.
We would take a dishpan and pack it full of nice fresh snow.
Then my Mom would boil the syrup down to just the right consistency
and drizzle it in a pinwheel pattern over the snow.
It would thicken almost to a taffy consistency and we would twirl it up
on a fork to eat it. Quite a treat for us at the time.
' course life was simpler back in the forties and fifties and we didn't
have access to all the sweets kids have today.
I did do this for my kids a few times when they were young in the mid sixties.

Just had it last night, actually--sister's two boys came up for a couple of days with 3 friends (all high-school age) to do a bit of fishing (NY's trout season opens April 1st), and as a couple of them had never had it, we made some for them. Went over well, and so did the maple sugar we made from what little bit they didn't eat on snow.

Yup, we did it also. It is called "Jackwax"
Loren

Aw, neat story and that's a really cool picture.

(We never made maple syrup... but put Kool Aid on snow to make our own slushies).

Loren,
I had completely forgotten the name....that's exactly what my Mom and Dad called it; jackwax!
Thanks

Yum! That sounds good!

I find the comment “course life was simpler back in the forties and fifties“ interesting. I by no means mean to offend or hijack this thread but as a person who has studied and practiced the subsistence living, have to wonder if people really understand life back then (from a grownups perspective).

Today you go to work, collect pay, and buy food as you use or need it. Back then you spent upwards of 3 months out of the year doing nothing but labor growing, harvesting, raising, butchering, and preserving everything you were going to eat for the next year. My grandmother had some 2500 canning jars just to preserve “can goods” for the family and the small army of men that worked the farm.

My mentor in the syrup making process told me of the time he realized that making syrup was an indicator on how the family farm did. If his dad came to them and said we are making syrup, it meant the farm came up short, and they would spend 15 hours a day for a month tapping 800 trees, collecting on foot and boiling sap in a large kettle, to make up the difference.

While as kids it may have appeared simpler, I think it was anything but. Back to my grandmother, she spent 2 hours making breakfast. She spent the morning cleaning up and making 30-40 lunches for the workers, and most of the afternoon between cleaning and preparing dinner (nothing came from a box). Her free time in the evening was sewing clothes, washing kids, and preparing to make meals the next day. We have traded long hours and hard work for convince and free time. I have to wonder just whose life is simpler.

This might make an interesting thread on its own. Rather than "hijack" this one, maybe someone should start a thread related to how or whether life was simpler back in the "old" days.

You folks talking about putting the syrup on snow reminds me of my late mow. We used to get a very large bowl of snow add a bit of sugar, milk, vanilla flavoring and made snow ice cream.

Always a great treat

BJ

Errin,

I said simpler....(less complicated). I did not say easier!!