Crafts & DIY

Maple on Tap: Making Your Own Maple Syrup by Rich Finzer and other books covering crafts and DIY subjects are reviewed. Finzer's manual covers a very specific process in excellent detail and is more introductory than Rink Mann & Daniel Wolf's Backyard Surgarin and more comprehensive than Joe McHale's Maple Sugaring at Home. . Finzer allows the reader to chuckle at his beginner's mistakes then neatly lays out the process with options. The organization of the book is very amateur friendly--a bit of history and trivia, followed by a glossary of terms that are used in following chapters. Each step in the process is covered, from tapping the trees for sap to bottling the amber goodness. Equipment and methodology are well described, with some of Finzer's own adaptations.