Thoughts of a New Maple Syrup Season

I know it may be a bit ahead of schedule when it comes to thinking about maple tree-tapping- time, but when we're here in the dead of winter I need a little something closer to look for than Springtime. I have two maple trees in the front of my yard that I suspected were sugar maples when we first moved in. Our area is littered with them so I thought it might be possible ours were too. After a little searching online with leaf identifying templates, sure enough they were sugar maples. O.K. I thought, what do I need to make maple syrup? Again, I always want to do it myself and making maple syrup didn't seem hard. I did a little more research on how the process of making maple syrup is accomplished and as I suspected it's very easy. Here is a list of things you need to get started:

1. The first week of March (in the Northeast anyways)
2. Sugar maple tree(s). (There are other varieties of maple that are tapped for syrup but the sugar maple is the best.)
3. A drill with a 5/16 bit.
4. 5/16 maple spouts. (Depending on how many you decide to tap)
5. A bucket with a lid and a 3/4 in. hole to hang it from or Sapsac set up. (I bought 3 Sapsac kits on ebay for about $40.00 with tax and shipping)
6. Turkey fryer kit: Propane tank, burner, and large pot(s) or if you prefer to save a little money and use the wood from your cord outside, build a little brick setup for you to raise your pot over and make a wood fire.

That's pretty much all you need to get things going. First things first, you go to your tree with drill in hand and drill a hole about 2 in. deep slightly angled up, into the tree. Then you drive your spout into the hole and hang your bucket or Sapsac. That's it! Now all you have to do is wait. That is the hard part. You will be so excited to start cooking down and watching the sap slowly reducing to sugary goodness and turning into something that you usually pay and arm and a leg for in the grocery store . Now making maple syrup I've learned it just like reducing a stock to make a glace de viande except there is alot more reducing you have to do. WARNING: if you attempt to do it all inside be prepared to reapply your wall paper in your house! This does create so much steam it's a problem. I do mine on my side porch with the screen windows open. It's a really nice thing to do on a cold Sunday when it may be snowing again and would probably keep you in the house anyways.

There are some things to keep in mind while you are collecting your sap and trying to get enough to make syrup. I think we all know that it takes about 40 gallons of sap to make around 1 gallon of syrup. Obviously that doesn't mean you have to wait to collect all 40 gallons before you can start cooking it but you should have at least 10 to 15 gallons to give you an end result that your not disappointed in. As the days go on and you check your buckets/sacs you'll see that the sap will flow from a single drip to almost a "flow" as time goes on. While you are collecting your sap you want to make sure it's kept cold. That won't be hard if the nights are still cold and you leave it outside, covered. You just don't want to allow it to get warm because it can go "sour" fairly quickly. When you get to around 10 to 15 gallons or so start cookin'! I like to separate the sap into several pots so it cooks down faster. Another good tip is using large, wide pots. It's all about surface area people. The more surface area you have to work with the quicker it will steam off and reduce. When your 10 or 15 gallons reduces to 1 gallon then you can manage it a little better in the house. Once the sugar content begins to develop you have to be careful not to cook it too hard. If you do it could scorch or get darker than it should. One thing I like to do with the final gallon is to put it in the crock pot with the lid off and allow it to reduce very slowly either over night or even longer. I'm in no rush! As long as it takes is as long as I'll take it. So how do you know when it's done? It's easy but you need an accurate thermometer. You should know that depending on your elevation (for all you mountain folk) water boils at different temperatures. The higher the elevation the lower the boiling point. So you should check your boiling water with a thermometer where you are making your syrup. Once you have that reading your maple syrup should be done when it reaches a temperature that's 7.1F higher than the boiling point. For people like me at not much higher than sea level it will be 219.1F. When you've reached that you've hit the mark and have a "syrup" ready to use or even can.

There are some details that I have failed to mention for the sake of getting confusing and, quite frankly, long winded. I just wrote the basics that I follow and then it's up to you to enjoy the learning process on your own. I like a little direction and then I find the rest of the way myself. If you would like to know a more in depth description here is a link to the Ohio Sate University Extension program. http://ohioline.osu.edu/for-fact/0036.html

Believe me when I say anyone can make there own maple syrup. It is a very rewarding accomplishment and gives you the sense that you have gained a skill as well as maybe even built up a little more confidence. Little projects like this bring me back to a time when this was the process of how you got things in life. There were no mega-grocery stores to just have your pickings from. You knew where the tree was, how to collect sap and did what you had to do if you wanted maple syrup. The word appreciation comes to mind when you think of the process good things in life take and if you do it yourself your will certainly appreciate that maple syrup a lot more when you made it yourself than if you bought it in the store...and it will probably taste better too!