What is sweeter than the drizzle of thick amber syrup easing down a hot stack of pancakes?…When your family has made the maple syrup from your own trees. Tapping your own trees and producing a batch of syrup for your family is a great winter to spring activity that the whole family can enjoy!
Collecting maple syrup is a green process that lets you utilize nature and can host a wealth of lessons for children. How to be resourceful, where food really comes from, and how to take part in healthy outdoor activities are all learned through the process. Let’s not forget the sweet reward of syrup at the end!
TREE SELECTION
Getting started begins with tree selection and seasonal timing. Scout around your property and identify what type of maple trees you have to work with. Sugar, black, red and silver all yield sap. Sugar and black maples have the highest sugar content. A good candidate for tapping will be a healthy tree with a minimum of 12-inch diameter. Larger diameter trees (over 21 inches) may be a candidate for tapping on both sides.
Sap starts running during mid-February to mid-March depending upon where you live. Sap will flow when the daytime temperature rises above freezing and the nighttime temperature falls back to freezing. These temperature changes create a pressure in the tree causing the sap to flow. A season typically last between 4-6 weeks with the heaviest flows of sap early on. Sap looks nothing like syrup, it is watery and clear.
TAPPING THE TREE
Once you have a game plan as to which trees are suitable to tap you will need a few supplies. Make sure they are clean before each season.
- A spile – this is the term for the metal straw-like tube that gets inserted into the tree.
- A bucket with lid – a bucket hangs from the spile to collect the sap as it runs from the tree. Sap collecting buckets have a lid that fits over the spile and bucket to protect from debris and rain water getting into the sap
- Hook- a wire hook that hooks the bucket onto the spile
- Drill – to drill your spile hole,
- Hammer – to tap in your spile once your hole is drilled.
You will want to drill a hole the diameter of your spile about 2 ½ inches deep into the tree. Many recommend tapping the south side of a tree. Make sure you drill a new hole each season, and leave at least 6-inch space between previous holes and your new tap. Place your hole at a height that is comfortable to you. Drilling at a slight upward angle will help sap flow, as your spile will be facing downward.
Clear away any shavings left by the drill and gently tap in your spile with a hammer. Hang your bucket and lid on the spile with your hook and wait for the sweet flow of sap!
MAKING THE SYRUP
Collect your sap daily from your taps. Strain sap through cheesecloth to remove any unwanted debris and sometimes even bugs! Sap should be strained into clean food grade storage containers and stored in a cold place. Sap will spoil, much like milk, if not kept at 38 degrees or colder. You should also plan on using your sap within a week of collecting it to avoid spoiled sap.
To make it into syrup it needs to be boiled down. If you have collected a lot of sap, it will only yield a little syrup. It takes 40liters of sap to make 1liter of syrup. So for every 10gallons you boil down you will have made a quart of syrup.
Many people boil sap down over an open fire, much like the method first used to make syrup. Some people will have a stove called an evaporator pan that is designed for boiling down sap. It is a process of boiling out the water and reducing the sap into a sweet maple syrup. As your sap reduces you can stick a spoon into the mix, when it has taken on the right consistency it will “stick” to the spoon as it runs off, much like the syrup we buy. To be more technical syrup should be at a sugar density of 66% sugar when the boiling sap reaches a temperature of 7 degrees F above the boiling point of water.
STORING THE SYRUP
Once the syrup is made you need to store it. It will have a slight sediment content you can filter out with a food grade filter. Syrup can be stored in clean food grade containers for up to 2 months. Glass is often the chosen method of storing syrup. Many people use canning jars and lids to seal the syrup extending the life of the syrup.
Some points to ponder:
- When making syrup keeping things at the proper temperature and using only clean food grade containers and utensils are essential. The end product will be edible and needs to be safe.
- Sap will spoil and bacteria can live in it, the above procautions will avoid any problems.
- When using an open fire or stove to boil down sap, use extreme caution and fire safety. Set up a safe perimiter and make sure children understand limits and safety when working with fire.
- A very good resource tapmytrees.com they also offer starter kits
Making syrup is fun! Children especially love this activity, from the treasure hunt feeling of “checking the buckets” to the delight of seeing sap boil down into delishious syrup, memories are made in maple syrup. All that is left is to make the pancakes!
