Make Maple Syrup

Maple syrup has been enjoyed by people for hundreds of years.

Maple syrup is made by tapping (drilling a hole into) maple trees and collecting the sap that runs out of it and boiling it to remove water, concentrating the sugar found in the sap. Maple trees are only found in North-East North America.

Maple sap runs through trees in the spring to bring it out of dormant and to start budding.

Steps

 * 1) Know the season. Maple season is in the spring when nights are below freezing temperatures and days are above freezing temperatures. If sap is collected after the season is over it will be low sugar content and not be worth boiling, and also the air temperature will be high and bacteria will grow faster.
 * 2) Select trees. There are many different types of Maple trees, various types have different sugar content, the higher the better. The sugar maple has the highest sugar content. The maple tree has a distinct five point leaf. Typically, a tree should be at least 10 inches in diameter before it is tapped.
 * 3) Purchase taps. Online is the easiest place to buy taps, taps are mostly the same, however collection containers differ quite a bit. Determine what style of collection container you will use, bag, attached bucket, ground bucket, or tube network. For beginners any kind is okay except tube networks.
 * 4) Tap the tree. Drill a hole into a tree on the sun side and above a large root or under a large branch. the hole should be the size of your tap. the hole should be around a foot to four feet above the ground. The hole should be a half an inch longer than your tap. The hole should be at a slight angle down.
 * 5) Attach collection container, it is best to keep the containers covered to keep out and rain water that may get in and to keep bugs out.
 * 6) Boil the sap. Syrup is made by removing water from the sap. Boiling the sap gets the water out. The sap to syrup ratio is approximately 40:1, therefore forty gallons of sap will give your approximately one gallon of syrup, this depends on the sugar content of the sap. This can be done using an evaporator, or any other heating device. An evaporator is a machine made specifically for this purpose, boiling maple sap. Another way to boil sap is build a home made fire box using cinder blocks and place restaurant pans on them. Keep the flame on the bottom of the pans. Add sap slowly, adding sap slowly allows the boil to continue. One method used to do this is make a small hole in a coffee can, and into it and allow sap to slowly trickle out into the boiling pan. The syrup is done when it reaches seven degrees Fahrenheit above boiling temperature, boiling temperature varies based on elevation so it is a good idea to check.
 * 7) Filter the finished syrup. This is optional but suggested. When the sap is boiled it produces niter, or "sugar sand." the niter will settle to the bottom if not filtered. Filtering will remove niter and and other stuff that might have gotten into it such as ash from boiling it or bugs. Some filters such as cheese cloth will filter out just bugs and ash. You can purchase better filters, best place to purchase this is online.
 * 8) Remove taps from trees at the end of the season. Do not plug the hole with anything, it will heal.

Tips

 * At the start of most sugar seasons the snow will be "sharp" or "corny" it won't be fluffy or powdery.
 * An evaporator is the fastest, cleanest, and most efficient way to boil sap, however they are very expensive
 * Tapping does not hurt the tree, trees have hundreds of gallons of sap run through them each year, and an average tap will produce ten gallons of sap in one year.

Warnings

 * Tap your own trees or have permission from the tree owner.
 * Taping trees lowers the value of the tree is if is going to be sold as lumber.
 * Boil the sap as soon as possible, Sap will spoil, during the beginning of the season sap can last one week at most.
 * Be careful that the syrup does not boil over. When syrup approaches being done it may foam up and boil over. It is a good idea to finish it on a stove where heat can be turned off immediately.
 * Do not burn yourself when boiling sap.
 * Boil outdoors; gallons of water vapor going into your house can be damaging
 * If syrup is going to be canned see how to can food.

Related Tips and Steps

 * How to Make Artificial Maple Syrup at Home
 * How to Celebrate National Maple Syrup Day
 * How to Make Maple Syrup Hot Chocolate
 * How to Make Cherry Syrup
 * How to Can Food

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