Making maple syrup

[MS 9x56]

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.

 

[Flbt]

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.

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.

 

[Atticus]

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.

 

[Brickman301]

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.

 

[Brickman301]

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!

 

[Betterinthebush]

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.

So cool. I will miss last run dark amber. My favorite.

 

[MS 9x56]

Run is really late this year due to the extremely cold conditions this year in the northeast.

 

[PHOENIX PHIL]

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.

 

[Atticus]

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.

They leave the tubing up year round and only pull the taps, retapping each tree every season.

 

[Quest#1]

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!

 

[MS 9x56]

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!

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.

 

[Ryan]

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.

 

[Flbt]

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

 

[Tucketed]

Living in NY state for 10 years my hunting buddies favorites, deer hunting and maple syrup. Every weekend was a party boiling syrup and drinking beer. RIP Jim

 

[Philip Glass]

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.

Very cool. Keep us posted on the process!