North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["Jim Fruth" <jfruth@tds.net>]

Melissa Kacalanos asked, "Would a crock pot work for maple syrup?"

   Some Native Americans used crockery for cooking before the White Man 
introduced them to iron kettles.  Typically though, a hollowed out log was 
used for boiling sap.  Rocks were heated in a fire which, after they were 
thoroughly heated, were picked up, gurney style, with wet poles and dropped 
into the sap.  To make maple sugar, the finished syrup was placed into birch 
bark bowls which were placed over the fire.
   A neat "gee whiz" experiment is to fill a styrofoam cup with water. 
Then burn it gently around its circumference and you may understand why the 
birch bowls didn't burn.

Jim Fruth
Brambleberry Farm
Pequot Lakes, MN  56472
For jams, jellies, syrups and more:
www.jellygal.com
1-877-265-6856 (Toll Free)
1-218-831-7018 (My Cell)