A friend of ours casually mentioned the other day that she had tapped her mother's maple tree and was planning on turning it into syrup on her stove. But get this: our friend doesn't live in Vermont. Or in Canada. Or anywhere pictured in an LL Bean catalog. She and her mother are both urbanites from Boston, Massachusetts!
The pictures in the gallery above are all from our friend. She used a milk jug (cleaned, of course!) to catch the sap as it siphoned from the tree, and then boiled the sap into syrup on her stove. She said her backyard maple syrup tastes more caramel-like than expected, but it will definitely be featured on some pancakes very soon.
If you're interested in doing some backyard tapping of your own, check out this site: Tap My Trees.
The site gives step-by-step instructions on selecting trees, purchasing equipment, and collecting sap. You can collect sap and make syrup even if you only have one tree available to you. The required equipment also doesn't look too extensive or hard to come by. This is totally doable for newbies.
Some of the site's best advice, in our decidedly non-outdoors-man opinion? Figure out which trees in your yard are maples while they still have their (very distinctive) leaves on the branches! Don't worry, there are ways to identify maple trees even right now when they're completely bare.
The best time to tap your trees is right now, so get your spile and get tapping! The trees will keep producing sap for another month or two.
Do you collect maple sap from your trees? Any advice to share?
Check Out The Website! Tap My Trees
Related: Maple Syrup Cocktails: A Sweet Way to Celebrate Spring
(Images: Rebekah Lea)
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What a cool thing. I did not know you could do that.
My high school had a sugar shack and many maples on the property. That said, be forewarned that it's a 40 to 1 ratio of sap to syrup -- so if you have only one tree, don't count on much maple syrup!
We did this one winter in our yard in New Jersey when I was growing up. It was a fun project for kids but the boiling process filled the entire house with the smell (sounds good... but after hours and hours become sickening) and our drapes near the stove were sticky from then on!
Also be aware that not all maple species are used to make maple syrup... Make sure the species in your backyard produce sap suitable for maple syrup!
Heed Frank's warning... it takes a LOT of sap. One tree is going to yield about one pancakes worth of syrup.
If you are truly masochistic, you can also make Birch Syrup the same way - but its a 100:1 ratio instead of 40:1.
Does this harm the tree in any way?
@sygvzy: Nope. Well not losing the sap - you are still puncturing a hole in the tree, so use a smaller sized tap, and the damage is negligible.
We did this in the wilds of an Ithaca winter a few years ago. It was A LOT of work. We held a sugaring weekend - that ran into and through the next week. We probably tapped 10 trees and boiled forever.... Don't boil inside, if you are doing a big project. I've heard stories of people boiling their wallpaper off their walls. Good time, Good maple syrup, but lots of work.
my friend, ava chin, who posts to NYT blog "the local" as the urban forager, did this recently in fort greene!
http://tinyurl.com/yaf33h4
Another thing--her syrup tasted like caramel because of the boiling, probably. To make syrup you are really wanting a slow evaporation process.
It's great that people are doing this themselves. I remember this well from the Laura Ingalls Wilder books. When people realize how much sap it takes, and fuel to produce the syrup, maybe they will realize why true maple syrup is so expensive and support a local producer for their needs in quantity.
Beware if you have wallpaper in your kitchen. The steam from all the boiling may take it off. I have it on good authority.
the best maple syrup I've had was just outside of Rochester, New York last year. They had a festival with MAPLE SUGAR COTTON CANDY. YUM!
We do some syrup making on a farm here in Michigan - about 1000 taps. A couple of points:
Charlotte, actually the opposite is true. The trick for making light, clean maple syrup is to boil it as hot and as fast as you can, although it's easy to over-boil it and get maple caramel. A hygrometer is key, and not expensive
Larger (at least 25" diam) and healthier trees can easily handle up to three taps. An old field or yard tree with a full crown is the best bet.
A single tap will produce 10-20 gallons of sap over the course of the season. That's up to a half gallon of syrup if you're lucky - definitely more than one pancake!
The prime season is 40 degree days and 20 degree nights. Once you see the beginnings of buds on the trees, you're done, and the sap becomes bitter.
Of course, you need to boil off all that water, which is best done (at the home scale) OUTSIDE, with some old catering pans over an outdoor fire. You can "finish" your syrup indoors but I wouldn't want 20 gallons worth of sugary steam in my house!
Finally, there is a lot of great information out there, mostly from the midwestern ag school extension offices. An hour on the internet will tell you everything you need to know for a small scale boil. Nothing better than your own syrup on your pancakes or in your morning coffee!
Backyard maple syrup making is quite easy. If you are interested in the process or want to try making some you would find the DVD Sap to Syrup inspiring. You can order it on amazon.ca or at www.saptosyrup.ca