仔牛近道

ことしも楓の木々をめぐり、樹液採集の準備をする季節になりました。

昨年から、メープルシロップに加えて、オニグルミの樹液のシロップにも挑戦しています。何はともあれ、まずは樹液を頂戴すべく、容器の設置です。30本ほどの樹に、そして場所もあちこち。最終的に数百リットルの樹液を回収しては煮詰めていくので、（ゆ）の出動無しでは不可能です。



ご近所のMさんの指導のもと、お試しで私と4歳の（ま）が始めたメープルシロップづくり。今年からは、3歳の（さ）が喜んで同行しています。樹液を集めだすころには、斜面は雪でいっぱいになることでしょう。今はまだ枯葉をザクザク踏んだり、岩や木によじ登ったりを楽しみます。ちょっと前に、金曜ロードショーで『アナ雪２』を観てから、（さ）はトロールとトナカイのスヴェンに夢中。山の倒木にまたがれば、「いけ！スヴェン!」。巨大な岩は、どれもトロールなので、テンションが上がりっぱなしです。



今年は、火起こし職人の（す）がいるので、庭での煮詰め作業も安心感があります。仕上げの煮詰めの頃には鍋は室内に移動するので、湿度たっぷり甘い香りたっぷりの部屋は、冬の我が家のオアシスです。（う）は、適度に煮詰まった「ホット樹液」をこっそり湯呑にとってはありがたげに飲んでいます。これもメープルシロップ作りしながらの楽しみ方の一つですね。さぁ、寒い中の樹液集めは大変ですが・・・ありがたがっていこう！

（わ）


Maple syrup making season

The time has come – travelling from tree to tree, to collect their sap, for maple syrup making.

Since last year, we have been trying to make walnut syrup and adding it to maple syrup. Anyway, for any kind of tree, the first thing to do is to set up containers on each tree, about 30 trees in different places. Yes, without Yuki’s great effort, this mission has never been completed.



Come to think of it, 4-year-old Makasa and myself had first tried this under the supervision of our good neighbor, M-san. As for now, 3-year-old Saede happily gives me company to the mountains. At this time, the mountains are full of dried leaves on the ground, so Saede enjoys crunching on them with her boots. Soon, the mountain will be covered with snow though…
Since she had watched “Frozen II” on TV the other day, she has been loving its characters, especially Trolls (fairies) and Sven (a reindeer), so there are plenty of them once she steps into the mountain! – When she sees a fallen tree, she sits on it and shouts “Come on, Sven! Let’s go!”, and the mossy rocks are all sleeping Trolls. She can’t stop being excited!

After the sap is collected, it’s time for boiling it down. We start doing this outside in the garden primarily, to save gas. Sukla is grown up enough to handle fire, so that’s a great help – and he enjoys. In the evening, we bring the half-concentrated-sap into the house to continue boiling down – up to 30% of sugar content (The original sap has only 1%, and the final product will be 55%!), so the room becomes very humid and warm thanks to its steam – it’s our oasis in the cold winter.

By the way, this year Umeo has found how yummy the hot sap of 30% sugar content is. I saw her secretly pouring and enjoying the sap in her mug! It’s absolutely fine – the syrup making us happy with each process. Though sap collecting in the cold mountain is a tough task, let us be grateful for the maple and walnut trees!



Wakana