Maple Syrup

What is maple syrup you ask?

Well, it’s the sweet part of the sugar maple tree that you can make yourself. Even tho it is a natural, seasonal product, you can gather, cook, store and enjoy for quite some time.

Now for a bit of info how to:

First find sugar maple trees. When located, drill about a half inch hole in the tree. Hammer a nail above the hole using bailing twine to hang a milk jug. For the taps, use store bought spiles that are specially designed with spouts for sap collection. Or, find sumac plants, cut the stalks 4-6 inches long, clean by poking out the inside, and shave one end to insert into the drilled hole. If using store bought spiles, you could probably drill a smaller hole to accept them. Then, cut a hole in the jugs for the taps. Large maple trees could have two taps in them without hurting the tree; this would allow you to get double the sap from the one tree.

When the temperature is freezing at night and warms up in the morning, it causes the sap to begin to flow. This usually happens in February through March for about a month or so, depending your location. The sap collected earlier in the season has a higher sugar content making it much sweeter and that sweetness appears to lessen as the daytime weather warms up. Thus, it takes more sap as the season progresses to make the syrup. The ratio of sap to syrup can vary from season to season. Some years it can be 40 gallons of sap to one gallon of syrup; other years it’s 20 or 10 to one gallon. One year I experienced a 60:1 gallon ratio. That meant dealing with a lot of sap, but it was still so worth it.

Check on your trees at least once a day; more often on warm days, as the sap will be flowing better. If your jugs overflow, that’s just maple syrup being wasted. Leave the filled jugs tied to the nail on the tree and either pour the sap into buckets or change out with empty jugs. Also, remember to re-drill the tap holes in the trees during the sap season, as they tend to clog up.

This was my experience:

A 55 gallon barrel was cut in half resulting in two good size pots. The collected sap was kept in 20 gallon plastic containers in the cellar to keep cool and prevent from molding. When I had enough sap gathered (at least 50 gallons), I put both pot halves on a iron grate outside and started a wood fire to have both pots going at the same time. While waiting for the fire, I strained the raw sap thru layers of cheesecloth over a metal colander, dividing some between both pots till ¾ full, and began cooking it down. This took several hours of boiling. Once the sap cooked down enough to allow room, I continued to add more sap slowly as to keep it boiling. When foam formed on the top as it boiled, I skimmed it off the surface. I kept adding all my collected sap in this manner until it turned slightly light brown. Then continued boiling down to an amount that I could pour into a pot and finish cooking on my wood cookstove inside. To see if it was ready, I dipped a spoon into the syrup till it “dripped” off the spoon then continued boiling. When the syrup was ready, it adhered to the spoon and slowly glided off. Again, I laid many layers of cheesecloth over a metal colander to strain the syrup before I poured it into sterilized pint jars with lids and screw bands. After cooling, I labeled them and put them in the cellar, as it’s best to keep them cool and out of the sun.

Yes, making maple syrup keeps you busy, either collecting the sap or boiling it down; but the great thing about it is that you don’t have to constantly keep stirring it like you do for making apple butter; however making maple syrup takes several hours of work.

Your maple syrup should keep many years for you to enjoy your sweet success.

HAPPY SUGARING