We made maple syrup this year, for the second time ever. The last time we tapped a tree, our daughters were young and very excited, until they saw how little our effort produced. This year we tapped four trees, after marking them when the leaves were still out, which for us amateurs, helped to make sure we were going to tap the sugar maples, not the red maples. (You can tap reds, but the ratio of water to sap increases boiling time and lowers yield). To those of you who make maple syrup on a more serious basis, four trees’ worth is definitely backyard stuff, but going through the process even in a small way is quite instructional!
We started by blowing the dust off a Booklet we had from 1980, which cost $1.95 from Vermont. This booklet guided us the first time around and was sure to do likewise this time.
“Sugaring” begins with basic equipment. Our equipment consisted of official taps, with plastic gallon jugs and buckets with homemade stove pipe metal lids for keeping the rain out. This worked fine until the high winds came, so we rigged wire to keep the covers on.
In selecting the trees in the fall, attention was paid to mature, sturdy trees that looked like they could withstand our sap thievery, not necessarily to their convenient location. So, with snow on the ground, collection includes trudging through some distance. On a warm day, it is amazing how quickly the buckets fill. The sap is transferred to the portable buckets to the house.
We then decided that it would be most efficient to use our wood stove top to boil down the sap, using a fairly large stainless steel pot from the kitchen. All of this worked quite well, with some details in-between such as skimming the foam toward the end of boiling to make the syrup clear. The result thus far is one small bottle of the best, most appreciated syrup you can imagine!
On the average, it takes 40 gallons of maple sap to make 1 gallon of pure maple syrup. One tap hole in each maple tree can yield 10 gallons of sap in an average year. So, four maple trees, 40 to 200 years old, are needed to make one gallon of pure maple syrup. This would include several “runs” a season.
According to Morse Farm, maple sap is 2% sugar and weighs 8.35 lbs. per gallon. Maple syrup is 66.9% sugar and weighs 11 lbs per gallon. It takes one gallon of maple syrup to make 7 lbs of maple sugar. Maple syrup contains 50 calories per tablespoon, while corn syrup contains 60 calories per tablespoon.
Native Americans were the first to make maple sugar, which did not spoil when stored. To make their sugar, they would cut a slash in the maple tree and collect the sap as it dripped out. Hollow logs, clay or iron pots were filled with the sap which would be processed through the syrup stage to end with crystallized sugar. The maple sugar was also traded with early settlers.
According to the New England Maple Museum, a French missionary was the first settler to make maple syrup in 1690. Various technologies were gradually developed such as use of wooden or metal taps and buckets with shoulder yokes to carry the saps to boiling kettles. The early settlers also produced the sap into maple sugar. This was the only source of sugar until the 1800’s, when cane sugar was introduced.
During the 1800’s, several developments increased production. The tin can was developed, which allowed food to be stored. Maple syrup producers such as the Green Mountain Maple Sugar Refining Company could store and ship maple syrup all year long. In the late 1800’s, there was a great demand for the Civil War soldiers. Metal buckets and covers were introduced, followed by development of more efficient boiling pans. This was followed by the invention of plastic pipeline, which improved from the 1950’s thought 1970’s, with vacuum pumps. Evaporators and reverse osmosis systems now reduce the boiling time considerably. In1999, the "health spout" was introduced, making a smaller hole in the tree, which can heal faster.
Incidentally, Thomas Jefferson and Ben Franklin were maple sugar proponents. Ben Franklin thought it better than cane sugar, which came with dependence on foreign supply.
Date published on web site:
04-30-2008
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