How do you like your pancakes?
As spring approaches, we tap our maples. You know it is time to tap the trees when the days are warm and the nights get to freezing or below. Pretty simple is how we operate. We don't sell our syrup. It is just for our use.
We drill the trees(maple) about an inch or so deep and insert a copper piece of tubing into the drilled hole. This does not harm the trees. Note: Any tree gives sap, but they are not all good for eating. They will not be sweet. Sugar maples are the best tree for tapping.
Using a rubber mallet to drive copper tubing into the drilled will help to not bend the copper tubing. Rubber tubing is placed on the copper spout. We then place the rubber tubing into a 5 gallon bucket that we have drilled to make a small hole for the tubing. The hole in the bucket will help hold the tubing in place.
Larger maples can handle more than one tap. Several of our trees at least have two taps and then we run two rubber tubes into the bucket. We do this by joining the tubes together with plumbing material and connect the tubes to one central tube to run into the bucket. We collect daily as long as the weather conditions are right. Sap comes from the tree looking and tasting like water. Boiling down the sap will evaporate the water and then the sap will begin to take on that caramel color. It will start to thicken like syrup and smell amazing. When it gets to this stage, you must keep a close eye on the sap as it will quickly cook up and also quickly burn. I have burned a few pans I admit and also have made maple candy. My intent was not to have maple candy but I did not watch it close enough and caught it right before it burned. My kids loved it, lol.
This is a picture of our stove, so to speak that we use to cook the sap. I use large stainless steel pans and place the sap into the pans. A fire is started in the bottom of the metal barrel and then heats and begins the boil to evaporate the water. There are kits you can order. They give all instructions on how to cut your metal barrel.
Once you get that syrup consistency, the syrup must be strained . It has alot of sediment in it. It will not harm you, but it is not the "pretty". In the past, I used cheesecloth which was not perfect. A special wool cloth is used most often. I purchased a material for straining last year and am just using this year. Not sure what it is made of as the packaging does not state. I will be curious to see how it works. After straining, I place in jars and freeze. It takes approx. 50 gallons of sap to get 1 gallon of syrup. As the tree comes back to life with the warmer weather, the sap will stop flowing. Your season will be done. We pull our copper taps out and save for the next year. The drilled hole will seal over. Now you know why it is so expensive in the store. Although this is work, alot. Nothing beats natural maple syrup. If you have the time, give this a try. I promise the taste is amazing.
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