Click on colored links to go there.
Today we took a trip up to Portville, NY to Sprague's Maple Sugar Farms. They have a wonderfull restraunt which we eat at whenever we are in that area. Sprague's is mostly know for it's NY State Pure Maple Syrup production and this is the time of year when maple syrup is produced. We took a small tour of Sprague's production facilities to see how it is actually made and even got a demonstration on how it was done in the early days by the Indians. Won't go into a lot of detail about that part but let me say it has to do with dropping very hot rocks into maple sap to get it boiling and burn off moisture.
Anyways..Below are excerpts from Sprague's production web site page describing how it's done.
Maple syrup is made from pure maple sap, collected from sugar maple trees in very late winter and early spring. The sap is a very dilute liquid containing from 1% to 7% sugar, varying from tree to tree and usually averaging around 2% sugar. It takes approximately 40 gallons of this sap to produce 1 gallon of pure maple syrup.
Next comes the tapping of the sugar maples. A 7/16 inch hole is drilled into the tree to a depth of about 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 inches. Into this is driven a "spout." These spouts are rather like modified pieces of pipe from which the bucket is hung or pipeline is run. A cover keeps dirt and rain water out of the buckets until collection; pipeline carries the sap directly from the tree to the storage tank.
To make top quality maple products the sap must be fresh and cold, which means it must be gathered and boiled often. In some modern sugar orchards small plastic tubing is attached directly to the spouts. The sap then flows through the small plastic tubes to larger pipes, and directly to the storage tank, thus saving the labor of gathering the sap.From the storage tank the sap flows, to the "evaporator". Evaporators are large pans, varying in size according to the size of the operation. A popular size is 5 feet wide and 16 feet long. Most evaporators have two pans; the flue pan and the syrup pan. The sap flows first to the flue pan, which has a bottom made of flues to provide a greater heating surface, and then to the flat bottomed syrup pan. The pans are divided by partitions, which creates a continual but very slow movement of sap from the point where it enters the evaporator around the many partitions and finally out of the evaporator as syrup. To evaporate the tremendous amount of water in the sap, a large quantity of fuel must be burned. Sugar makers use a modern reverse osmosis machine in conjunction with an energy efficient 4' X 14' Lighting Evaporator.It takes a long time for the 2% sap to be condensed by the evaporation process to the exact density of maple syrup. If cooked too thick the resulting syrup will crystallize. If the syrup is too thin it will be apt to ferment. Sugar makers use a hydrometer to check the density. When the hydrometer settles in the liquid syrup to a mark designating the correct density, the syrup is drawn from the pan. It is then filtered again to remove the nitre (or sugar sand) which has developed in the boiling process. From the filtering tank the maple syrup flows into small retail containers or into 35 and 50 gallon drums to be packed later. The syrup is packed hot and each can must be sealed according to state laws.
Saturday, March 31, 2007
Friday, March 30, 2007
Wild Leeks
Click on colored links to go there.
Today we went digging leeks down by Westline. I have been going to the same area to dig leeks for at least 20 years. Leeks are a popular item in this area. Either you love them or you hate them if you can get by the smell. Actually Westline has been known for years for having a annual leek festival and now Bradford has what they call Stinkfest every year with a lot of events and many recipes containing leeks cooked in many different ways.
The technical story relating to leeks is as follows from the online encyclopedia called Wikipedia.
The name Wild leek can also refer to Allium ampeloprasum, a native of Europe.
Wild leeks (Allium tricoccum), also known as ramps, are a member of the onion family (Alliaceae). Both the white root and the broad green leaves are edible. They are found from the U.S. state of South Carolina to Canada and are especially popular in the cuisine of the US state's of West Virginia and Pennsylvania when they emerge in the springtime. A common description of the flavor is like a combination of onions and strong garlic.
In central Appalachia, ramps are most commonly fried with potatoes in bacon grease or scrambled with eggs and served with bacon, pinto beans, and cornbread. Ramps, however, are quite adaptable to almost any food style and can also be used in soups, puddings, ketchup, guacamole and other foods, in place of onions and garlic. Some people like them raw, but others say the aroma of raw wild leeks stays with one for days.
Communities in this area hold annual leek festivals and local fire departments and even some church's have "Ham & Leek" dinners which bring hundreds of leek aficionados from considerable distances to sample foods featuring the plant. During the leek season (late winter through early spring), restaurants, bars, fire departments and church's in local towns serve a wide variety of foods containing wild leeks. Leek dips seem to be a favorite with everyone and each person has their own special recipe which they consider the best.
Leek Trivia
The name of the U.S. city Chicago originates from "Checagou" (Chick-Ah-Goo-Ah) or "Checaguar," which in the Potawatomi language means "wild onions" or "skunk." The area was so named because of the smell of rotting marshland wild leeks (ramps) that used to cover it.
The strong smell of leeks is also said to keep away vampires in folklore, much like garlic.
Ramps (leeks) appear quite often on the Food Network show, Iron Chef America, used by Iron Chefs and challengers alike.
Today we went digging leeks down by Westline. I have been going to the same area to dig leeks for at least 20 years. Leeks are a popular item in this area. Either you love them or you hate them if you can get by the smell. Actually Westline has been known for years for having a annual leek festival and now Bradford has what they call Stinkfest every year with a lot of events and many recipes containing leeks cooked in many different ways.
The technical story relating to leeks is as follows from the online encyclopedia called Wikipedia.
The name Wild leek can also refer to Allium ampeloprasum, a native of Europe.
Wild leeks (Allium tricoccum), also known as ramps, are a member of the onion family (Alliaceae). Both the white root and the broad green leaves are edible. They are found from the U.S. state of South Carolina to Canada and are especially popular in the cuisine of the US state's of West Virginia and Pennsylvania when they emerge in the springtime. A common description of the flavor is like a combination of onions and strong garlic.
In central Appalachia, ramps are most commonly fried with potatoes in bacon grease or scrambled with eggs and served with bacon, pinto beans, and cornbread. Ramps, however, are quite adaptable to almost any food style and can also be used in soups, puddings, ketchup, guacamole and other foods, in place of onions and garlic. Some people like them raw, but others say the aroma of raw wild leeks stays with one for days.
Communities in this area hold annual leek festivals and local fire departments and even some church's have "Ham & Leek" dinners which bring hundreds of leek aficionados from considerable distances to sample foods featuring the plant. During the leek season (late winter through early spring), restaurants, bars, fire departments and church's in local towns serve a wide variety of foods containing wild leeks. Leek dips seem to be a favorite with everyone and each person has their own special recipe which they consider the best.
Leek Trivia
The name of the U.S. city Chicago originates from "Checagou" (Chick-Ah-Goo-Ah) or "Checaguar," which in the Potawatomi language means "wild onions" or "skunk." The area was so named because of the smell of rotting marshland wild leeks (ramps) that used to cover it.
The strong smell of leeks is also said to keep away vampires in folklore, much like garlic.
Ramps (leeks) appear quite often on the Food Network show, Iron Chef America, used by Iron Chefs and challengers alike.
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Links of Interest
Today I have added PA links of interest over to the left side of this blog page. Hopefully you will find something of interest here. As I have time, I will add more to the list. Please feel free to click on any of the links to go to that web site. I hope these will be of help to some of you. :)
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
Kane
Click on colored links to go there.Kane is a borough in McKean County, Pennsylvania, 94 miles (151 km) east by south of Erie. It was founded in 1863 by Civil War general Thomas L. Kane at an elevated site 2210 feet (674 m) above sea level. In the early part of the twentieth century, Kane had large glassworks, bottle works, lumber mills, and manufactures of brush handles, saws, cutlery, screen doors and windows, etc. In 1900, 5,296 people lived here; in 1910, 6,626; and in 1940, 6,133 people made Kane their home. According to the 2000 census, the borough population was 4,126.
Kane is a rural community which is rich with outdoor entertainment. Hunting and fishing are very popular forms of entertainment for some people. Other people enjoy visiting such scenic areas as the Kinzua Dam, and the recently destroyed Kinzua Viaduct Bridge (this railroad bridge was destroyed by a tornado in 2003). In the long winters, people enjoy cross-country skiing, sled riding, winter hiking, and snowmobiling. For children, the local Evergreen Park has the Evergreen Enchanted Playland Creative Playground. People of all ages enjoy swimming at the high school public pool that is open various times of the year to give swimming lessons as well as holding recreational swim times.
Kane is site of an outdoor drive-in theater which is open during the summer months, playing current movies.
(Click on any picture for full size view)
The Kane Republican is the area's only daily newspaper containing both local and national news.
WLMI-FM is Kane's country music station.
WQLE-AM was Kane's first radio station, first signed on the air as WKZA at 960 AM back in 1954. It fell silent in 1993 and has not returned to the air since. Its tower and studio building, located south of Kane, were dismantled back in the late 1990s.
Kane is known as the Black Cherry Capital of the World because of its logging industry.
On May 31, 1985 a tornado destroyed many homes in Kane and neighboring East Kane. The F4 tornado passed through the town at approximately 8:15 PM. There were 3 deaths as a result of this tornado. This is the worst natural disaster in Kane's history.
Kane was started by the Kane family. There are still relatives of the Kane family today. Some of them live in Ford City Pa, and Kittanning, Pa. The Kane family can be traced all over Pennsylvania.
Related Kane Links:
Kane Chamber of Commerce
Kane Republican Newspaper
Kane Area School District
WLMI-FM Radio Station
Vacation information for Kane, PA
Monday, March 26, 2007
Downloading Torrents
Click on colored links to go there.
This post will be related to downloading Torrents. Torrents are a file which is any audio, video, a program or pictures and can be very large in size. Torrents are the modern way to download files like the early Napster, Limewire or Kazaa use to be. To down load a torrent, a program (client) is needed to download the file. Several torrent clients I have found to be of good quality are programs called "Bitspirit" & "Azureus". There are many others but I use these particular ones.
Once you have downloaded and installed one of these programs, you will need to go to torrent search web sites and type in what file (music title, video title, program title) you would like to download. **Please note that at this present time you are not SUPPOSE to download any copyright material.
When you chose a title to download, you then chose to "Download Torrent" and this will bring up your torrent client program and the download will begin. Depending on the size of the file and other Internet conditions,this can take from hours to days to complete the download.
Each torrent client has it's own settings that can help in download speed and performance.
If this subject is of interest to you. Links to the torrent client programs and to torrent search web sites can be found below.
This post will be related to downloading Torrents. Torrents are a file which is any audio, video, a program or pictures and can be very large in size. Torrents are the modern way to download files like the early Napster, Limewire or Kazaa use to be. To down load a torrent, a program (client) is needed to download the file. Several torrent clients I have found to be of good quality are programs called "Bitspirit" & "Azureus". There are many others but I use these particular ones.
Once you have downloaded and installed one of these programs, you will need to go to torrent search web sites and type in what file (music title, video title, program title) you would like to download. **Please note that at this present time you are not SUPPOSE to download any copyright material.
When you chose a title to download, you then chose to "Download Torrent" and this will bring up your torrent client program and the download will begin. Depending on the size of the file and other Internet conditions,this can take from hours to days to complete the download.
Each torrent client has it's own settings that can help in download speed and performance.
If this subject is of interest to you. Links to the torrent client programs and to torrent search web sites can be found below.
Torrent Search Web Sites
- IsoHunt
- The Pirate Bay
- Torrentspy (very popular)
- TorrentBox
- My Bit Torrent
Introduction
Click on colored links to go there.
Welcome to the first entry on the Hoz's Home blog. This blog is to share items of interest to family & friends and will show different family related matters as well as items of interest ranging from local areas of interest to computer related topics. It is hoped that you will enjoy the contents of this blog and this blog will always be a "G" web site with content suitable for any age.
Several years ago, I had a full 12 page web site also called Hoz's Home, but after 2 years it became to much of a chore to keep it updated so it was closed. Hopefully this blog will be a very mild version of that web site. In case you do not know me, this blog is based in Northwest Pennsylvania around the Gifford, Bradford & Kane areas, but will show interesting items from anywhere.
Please save or add this blog to your Favorites in your web browser and check back on a regular basis for updates, my thoughts, subjects of interest, links of special interest or anything else I can think of.
Welcome to the first entry on the Hoz's Home blog. This blog is to share items of interest to family & friends and will show different family related matters as well as items of interest ranging from local areas of interest to computer related topics. It is hoped that you will enjoy the contents of this blog and this blog will always be a "G" web site with content suitable for any age.
Several years ago, I had a full 12 page web site also called Hoz's Home, but after 2 years it became to much of a chore to keep it updated so it was closed. Hopefully this blog will be a very mild version of that web site. In case you do not know me, this blog is based in Northwest Pennsylvania around the Gifford, Bradford & Kane areas, but will show interesting items from anywhere.
Please save or add this blog to your Favorites in your web browser and check back on a regular basis for updates, my thoughts, subjects of interest, links of special interest or anything else I can think of.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)