Making maple syrup

MS 9x56 said:
Just finished tapping the maple trees on my hunting property. Hopefully by the end of the weekend we will have enough sap to start boiling. It takes 40 gallons of sap to make a gallon of pure maple syrup.
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I never did anything with maple.
I helped with cane syrup.
And when I got older the skimming lol

But I always perferd maple syrup.
My mother in law goes up north every summer she brings us back a gallon of maple syrup and some times maple butter.
 
I tap the trees in my neighborhood and around my house. The neighbors like the look on the street and so do I. I put out 35 buckets this year and usually make about 3 gallons for family, friends and neighbors. Fun offseason hobby.

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Wow this brings back memories! When I was a kid I used to tap the maple trees along the lane going back to the barn on my grandfather’s farm. Takes a lot of sap, to make a gallon! We used to cook ours down on the wood stove. A lot of work, but so worth it! I still have a few taps laying around somewhere.
 
Just remembered something else. If the ground was level around the tree we would set the bucket on the ground. We would tap the tree using homemade taps we made from hollowing out a piece of sumac branch. When we started to hear the frogs chirping at night on the nearby pond, it was time to stop pulling the sap.

Great post OP.! It brought back so many memories from my childhood!
 
MS 9x56 said:
Just finished tapping the maple trees on my hunting property. Hopefully by the end of the weekend we will have enough sap to start boiling. It takes 40 gallons of sap to make a gallon of pure maple syrup.
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So cool. I will miss last run dark amber. My favorite.
 
If you're ever in Vermont, it's an interesting stop at one of the "sugar houses" as I remember them being called. They had taps all over the mountain side with rubber tubing to let gravity do its job and bring the sap down the hill to the house. I'm sure they'd take down the tubing and taps after the season was done. But I'd say it would have to have taken a fair amount of work out of the process.
 
PHOENIX PHIL said:
If you're ever in Vermont, it's an interesting stop at one of the "sugar houses" as I remember them being called. They had taps all over the mountain side with rubber tubing to let gravity do its job and bring the sap down the hill to the house. I'm sure they'd take down the tubing and taps after the season was done. But I'd say it would have to have taken a fair amount of work out of the process.
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They leave the tubing up year round and only pull the taps, retapping each tree every season.
 
Born and raised in Vermont. Maple syrup is a huge part of our state. Spent my teen years in a orchard with an uncle tapping fix lines and boiling. It’s insane how much work goes into a gallon of syrup…. Great experience in hard work.

They don’t charge enough for it!
 
Quest#1 said:
Born and raised in Vermont. Maple syrup is a huge part of our state. Spent my teen years in a orchard with an uncle tapping fix lines and boiling. It’s insane how much work goes into a gallon of syrup…. Great experience in hard work.

They don’t charge enough for it!
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The reverse osmosis machines have made the process faster and more profitable as much less boiling is now required but it has also lost the Smokey flavor of syrup being finish boiled over a wood fire. My grandaughter will not eat anything other than home made maple syrup on her pancakes.
 
There's a company in Alaska that taps birch and makes syrup. A friend who's from Maine and tapped maples for making enough for the family thought he might try birch up here. Well, right up until he asked the folks at that company what the ratio of birch sap to syrup was. They told him 100:1. He decided to let them do that work.
 
Any one ever made sycamore syrup?
I tried it one time years ago.
Kinda butterscotch type taste.
A old man that made cane syrup did it but the ratio was really bad 200-1
 
MS 9x56 said:
Just finished tapping the maple trees on my hunting property. Hopefully by the end of the weekend we will have enough sap to start boiling. It takes 40 gallons of sap to make a gallon of pure maple syrup.
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Very cool. Keep us posted on the process!
 
Boiled up about 25+- gallons of sap today making just over 1/2 gallon of pure New England gold. I’ll have another 20 or so gallons to boil tomorrow. Most of the trees I tap are red maples so it takes a bit more sap to make syrup—about 45 gallons of sap for a gallon of syrup.

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My sap warming system. Cold sap trickles through the copper tubing wrapped around the stack, heating the sap before hitting the pan. That way the cold sap doesn’t slow the boil.
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I finished on the stove—easier to control the temperature. I’ll let it sit overnight so the sugar sand (niter) settles then bottle it. The niter is harmless but I don’t like the look.
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Wow, no wonder it's so expensive in the store. Didn't realize it takes that much sap to make syrup.
How much sap do you get from a tree?
Thanks.
 
WAS WONDERING JUST THE OTHER NIGHT HOW MUCH SAP YOU GET FROM A TREE.
GOTTA BE HONEST AS A SOUTHERN GUY WAS PROBABLY THINKING HOW MUCH SYRUP YOU GOT FROM A TREE LIKE MAPLE SYRUP JUST POURED OUT!
 
F. Vaccaro said:
Wow, no wonder it's so expensive in the store. Didn't realize it takes that much sap to make syrup.
How much sap do you get from a tree?
Thanks.
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Depends on the location of the tree (north vs. south slope), snow fall, frost line, how warm it gets, etc.

Like all things agriculture, more variables than can be controlled by the producers to account for a accurate prediction of end product.
 
I’ve never figured out how much sap each tree produces. As mentioned it varies from tree to tree, weather, year, etc. This year some trees are going gangbusters while others—not so much. I’ve had three boils this season so far and hope to do two more. I’m at about 2 gallons of syrup so far total. I usually stop when I get to 3 gallons.

After a couple days of warm weather which shut down the sap, it looks good for the sap to start flowing again. In fact, I need to go check buckets…

I bottled up about a gallon of syrup the other day.

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