From the Survival Blog
Maple syrup is a gift of nature. Like
all good gifts, it must be received. That happens in late winter and early
spring in the New England and the Great Lakes regions. Since autumn,
temperatures below 45 degrees have caused the trees to store sugar as starch.
Around the end of February and into March, the sun begins to warm the maple
trees even while the nights remain quite cold-- below freezing. This
fluctuation in temperature begins a pumping action in the sugar maple trees,
which I interrupt by gathering sap.
The Tree Sugar Maple (also known as
Rock Maple or Hard Maple) trees are the most common source of sugary sap. I am
told that Black Maples are also especially good for tapping. Usually, Red
Maples and Silver Maples should be avoided, if their sap is not as sugary,
which consequently takes longer to evaporate. If my red and silver maples test
below 1.5% sugar, I will avoid them. Their taste is also not as light and
sweet. The Sugar Maple leaf is distinctive by its five-fingered leaf with deep
"U" shapes between the fingers. The traditional Canadian Maple leaf
symbol is quite similar to the sugar maple leaf. The leaves of Red and Silver
Maples have distinctive jagged edges and "V" cuts between fingers.
I find that determining the type of
maple tree by its bark can be as much art as science. In some trees, the Sugar
Maple bark looks like elephant skin. It can be difficult to discern one variety
from another. Another cue to discover your Sugar Maples is that their branches
tend to branch off lower to the ground (six feet or so) when mature. An
important consideration of a great producer is its crown the collection of
branches at the very top of the tree. A great crown will draw a great amount of
sap up from the roots and truck. Leaving nothing to chance, I mark my Sugar
Maples in the autumn, before the leaves fall, with a small dot of spray paint.
The University of Maine has excellent
resources on selecting trees, harvesting sap, and making maple syrup at:
www.extension.umaine.edu
Tap Using a 7/16" bit, I drill a
two-inch hole at a slightly uphill angle into the maple tree about three to
four feet above the ground. I usually see sap immediately begin to wet the
opening. Clean the tapped hole of any sawdust or debris. Using a rubber mallet,
gently tap a 7/16" plastic spile into the tree. The spile should be firmly
seated in the white wood but not split the tree. Tap on warm days to avoid
splitting the tree.
Connect the spile using a food grade
plastic hose inserted into a 5-6 gallon pail which sits on the ground at the
base of the tree. Some older stainless steel spiles permit hanging the bucket
from the spile. That doesn't work with the modern plastic variety, so I just
put the collection buckets on the ground with a piece of wood on the cover to
keep everything stable. The bucket requires a lid to prevent rain and snow from
ruining the sap. On the side of the rim of the bucket, near the top, drill a
hole for the plastic hose to go into the side of the bucket. My first year, I
drilled a hole through the top of the cover, which was not a good idea since
rainwater and melting snow contaminate your sap. Your collection operation is
complete! It is that easy.
Responsibly tapping maple trees for
sap does not damage the trees. The proof of that are the generations of
"sugarbush" harvesters that tap their Maples every year. It is
important to rest a tree every three or four years, arborists say. It is also
important to tap only trees that are mature. The Michigan and Maine state
websites about harvesting maple syrup agree that only trees with trunks more
than 10" in diameter should be tapped. If a tree is 10-20 inches in
diameter, it has a circumference of 31" to 61" and can support one
tap. A tree 20"-25" has a circumference of 64"- 79" and can
support two taps. Over 25" diameter trees can support three taps. A tree
should not be tapped with more than three taps under any circumstances.
Over-tapping a tree can starve it of the needed sap for its survival. Excess
openings (taps) in the tree can also allow pests and infections to enter the
tree.
The sap-rising temperatures-- 40
degrees or so-- will create pressure inside the tree and cause the sap to flow.
Day and night, the running sap will drain into your collection bucket. During
periods of great temperature fluctuations, I have harvested five gallons a day
from a productive tap.
A sweet sap will be about 2% sugar
and is measured in the field using a hydrometer. You will need to buy a long or
short hydrometer ($10-$20) and a stainless steel cup ($18-$22) to hold the sap
while testing. I buy all of my supplies from Sugar Bush Supply company
www.sugarbushsupplies.com. I have found them them to be 100% reliable,
fairly-priced, and knowledgable. Sap that is less than 2% is still usable, but
it will take longer to evaporate and can result in a darker, more molasses-like
syrup. The Grade A Amber syrup comes from the sweetest sap.
Evaporation
As soon as possible, boil your sap.
If it stands for more than two or three days, especially in warm weather, it
can become milky and affect the taste of the syrup. For my sap, I use a 125
gallon, food grade, polystyrene holding tank that I purchased from Leader
Evaporators atwww.leaderevaporator.com . Making maple syrup is about
evaporating the water out of the sap. Roughly speaking (depending on the
sweetness of the sap) 43 gallons of sap yields one gallon of syrup.
The sap is boiled to 7.5 degrees
above the boiling point of water. At sea level this temperature is about 212
degrees Fahrenheit. So, since I am near sea level, I bring my sap to 219.5
degrees, when it becomes a clear amber yellow. Boiling above those temperatures
will often result in gritty bits of "sugar sand" in the syrup and a
cloudy product. Also, the longer the sap is boiled, the darker it gets.
Inferior sap will yield a syrup that is “Class C”, brown, and molasses-tasting.
The highest prized syrup is the golden, clear, light syrup.
In the past when doing small batches,
I used an electric stove to boil my sap in stainless steel pots from Walmart.
The evaporation/boiling process took about seven hours to turn 18-20 gallons of
sap into two quarts of syrup. Because I will have several hundred gallons of
sap this year, I decided to boil most of it on an outdoor steel box wood stove
in the woodshed. I will use the stove top for the finishing process of taking
the thickened sap to 219.5 degrees Fahrenheit.
Filtering and Bottling
Syrup should be filtered when it's
hot. I use homemade filters, but they can also be purchased at Sugar Bush
Supply and other supply companies. The syrup should be bottled at a temperature
of at least 180 degrees Fahrenheit to prevent bacteria and fungi. It is capped
immediately and left to cool. I use 12 oz and 8 oz glass bottles, but there is
a wide variety of containers, caps, and labels. Just make sure your jars and
bottles are sterile before filling them. Bottles should be filled to near the
top, minimizing the amount of air in the bottle. The bottle or jar can then be
laid sideways to cool, creating a nice seal with the cap.
Reverse Osmosis
I have been reading and thinking
about using a reverse osmosis (RO) machine to extract much of the water from
the sap before I boil it. Most of the literature claims that the reverse
osmosis filtering systems can extract up to 60% of the water out of the sap.
Obviously, this would reduce the boiling time significantly.
However, I am concerned that the
sugar in the raw sap would foul the filters frequently. If I have to replace
filters every hundred gallons of raw sap, for example, that would require a lot
of work and maintenance. For me this is a hobby, not a job. I am not convinced
yet that using the RO filters makes sense for my small operation.
Clean Up
After the season is over, clean all
of your hoses, spiles, and buckets with a hot chlorine-water solution. Use one
part chlorine to twenty parts hot water. Then store your requipment in a dry,
clean place. Cleanliness is critical in the process. Whenever I handle the raw
sap, I usually filter it to remove any visible debris. Then, boiling it kills
any unseen germs, bacteria, and contaminants.
Final Product
You are finished! Your maple syrup is
delicious, pure and 100% natural, with no additives of any kind. I am told that
maple syrup, like honey, will last for many years when sealed and stored in a
cool, dark place.
Combined with your labor and a few
materials, your maple syrup is a gift of nature.
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