permaculture

[Miekal And <dtv@mwt.net>]

Jack Rowe wrote:
> 
> Whether from beets, sugar cane, cane sorghum, maple or other Acer saps, 

dont forget birches, (whence birch beer) & walnut, surprisingly also
produces a usuable sugar.


the
> traditional method is to boil and boil (slowly, of course, since sugar
> burns easily. Supposedly Native American settlers made maple syrup by
> removing pieces of relatively-pure water in the form of ice from the top of
> containers left out on frosty nights. 

my understanding is the sugar solution freezes at about 28-29 degrees F,
so if it gets really cold this distillation process doesnt work, but we
routinely reduce the need for evaporation by maybe 10% by pulling the
ice out.


also, in regards to native americans, Ive read, tho not tried myself,
that in the days before metal, the cooking down was done in birch bark
containers over hot coals, which I would love to see demonstrated
sometime...this would seem to be one of primitive techs great
achievements.


Might be some good potential for a
> solar 'still, at least for early stages.
> 
> Or (and given some of the recent articles on pollinator shortages, probably
> a really good idea), get bees and let them perform their famous distilling
> act, nearly gratis.

we cook down between 15-30 gallons of syrup each year at Dreamtime, from
about 25 trees.  if you do yr math that's between 600 - 1200 gallons of
treejuice.  every year we debate the ethics of running a fire that long,
all the wood & labor involved, & how unpermaculture this practice is. 
often wondered if somebody had a more conclusive distillation plan,
either by a controlled-temperature icehouse, or a solor still.

miekal and

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Dreamtime Village
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