March is here and many have been busy tapping maple trees and gathering their flavorful sap.
A good friend of mine is one of the few with the energy, knowledge and location to harvest the many gallons of sap needed to make maple syrup. I visited his home recently to see how he creates the syrup that’s synonymous with pancakes and countless mouthwatering breakfasts every year.
At spring’s approach maple trees prepare to once again grow leaves, the sap stored in their roots during winter begins flowing upward using tiny passageways inside the tree called Xylem.
The best conditions for collecting sap are night time temperatures just below freezing to highs of around 45 to 50. If the weather cooperates sap can be collected for up to five weeks.
A 5/16 inch hole is drilled an inch and a half into the tree, a small plastic spout inserted which directs the sap into a bucket or a hose. To save the time and effort needed to collect sap from buckets on a daily basis, some run plastic lines from each tree and collect the sap at one or two central sites.
My friend’s trees are to spread out for the time and expense running hose would require and instead uses a short section of plastic pipe to run the sap from the sprout into a five gallon bucket. To keep out dirt and debris, a square, ceramic floor tile is placed over the bucket. These are strong enough that squirrels and other varmints can’t move them. They’re also waterproof and heavy enough so the wind won’t blow them away.
Taps are best placed on the sunny side of the trees. Now, if a tree is tapped correctly it will not damage the tree. A big tree, two feet across can take four taps, a 16-inch diameter tree three taps and a 12-inch tree one to two. Sap needs to be collected daily and kept below 50 degrees.
Most hardware stores carry tree tapping supplies.
Now, a five gallon bucket of sap weighs 40 pounds. No one relishes the effort needed to lug a full, heavy bucket any distance. To aid in sap collection and avoid carrying heavy pails my friend has rigged up two 30-gallon plastic containers fore and aft on his 4-wheeler. A one-inch hose empties the sap from the 4-wheeler into 55-gallon clean plastic garbage cans in his garage. The 55-gallon containers are emptied by a submersible pump which pushes the sap through a line to a storage container above the sap boiling tray.
Maple sap itself is very susceptible to temperature. If temperatures rise into the 60s or 70s overnight, bacteria can quickly spoil it, the sap appearing tinted and sour smelling. The syrup producer has to keep a wary eye on the thermometer; you can only store your sap when it’s cold. Rising temperatures mandate the sap be boiled down immediately.
If you catch the cycle perfectly the first tree sap is the sweetest. It will require 30 to 35 gallons to make one gallon of syrup. As the sap continues to run it grows thinner until at the end of the cycle it can require 50 gallons of sap to make a gallon of syrup.
You may be asking yourself at this moment – “Just how do you boil down the sap when it takes such a large amount to make syrup?”
My creative friend made his own equipment and it’s pretty ingenious. First, he welded two metal drums together and cut a door in one end. A fire grate was placed inside, a six-inch stovepipe opening cut on the far, top end which runs into a six-inch steel casing 12 feet high. The tall smoke stack creates a ferocious draft allowing the firewood to burn very hot.
Next, he cut away the top center of the drum placing a 2-foot wide by 3-foot long stainless tray six inches deep on the top of the woodstove.
The tray is filled until half an inch deep and a roaring fire built. When the wood stove is roaring the entire tray of sap is boiling and frothing. Since it is necessary to remove 29 to 49 gallons of water in order to create one gallon of syrup you want as much surface area evaporating as possible, in this case six square feet.
The sap runs into the tray from a quarter inch line. The emerging sap falls into a V-shaped channel running the entire length of the tray allowing it to warm slightly before entering.
With the tray boiling briskly the quarter-inch stream maintains the half inch depth of boiling sap. It takes a while to drain a 55 gallon container using a quarter inch line. On the other hand there’s a lot of moisture boiling off every second too! A fine metal mesh is used to remove froth from the boiling liquid when it darkens.
As you can see, it takes planning, preparation, follow up, keeping a sharp eye on the temperature and just plain hard work for this endeavor. But, the reward is well worth the effort when you, your family or guests sit down to a pancake and sausage breakfast with homemade maple syrup. There’s nothing like it and when it’s your own creation, it tastes sweeter yet.
