First Time Maple Syrup Tapping !!!!

PeppermintPatty

PeppermintPatty

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Today we got these plastic taps to hook up to the tree for sap collecting. Once you take them out the maple tree holes fill themselves in within a year.

We are going to make our own maple syrup.
We have a lot of maple trees on our land so why not. Maple syrup to buy is expensive and I like to use it for baking in place of sugar. My husband likes it on his pancakes.

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Happy to learn you're maple-syruping, Patty.

We've made it here, some years. We have a maple tree in the yard that I bought at a nursery and planted from about a skinny 7-footer. Now it's a really tall, widely spread shade tree. some years when I've remembered to, I've tapped it and then boiled down the sap.

That works out fine because, unlike Ontario & Quebec, where we live is not natural maple-tree country. So we're not very addicted to maple syrup. We just occasionally add a little maple syrup to certain dishes we cook.
 
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Jules said:
Love it maple syrup. If you’ve got them, tap it. My Ontario relatives did this every year. Yum. Sometimes a bowl of it was served as dessert along with a fresh bread.
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Ontario is abundant with maple trees. They have bigger trees than we have here. I’d love to have fresh maple syrup on pancakes. I don’t normally like syrupy pancakes but freshly made syrup is probably completely different. I look forward to trying it.
 
JBR said:
Happy to learn you're maple-syruping, Patty.

We've made it here, some years. We have a maple tree in the yard that I bought at a nursery and planted from about a skinny 7-footer. Now it's a really tall, widely spread shade tree. some years when I've remembered to, I've tapped it and then boiled down the sap.

That works out fine because, unlike Ontario & Quebec, where we live is not natural maple-tree country. So we're not very addicted to maple syrup. We just occasionally add a little maple syrup to certain dishes we cook.
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May I ask where you live?
My husband says we might be too late to get enough sap but I would think the dates would be later the further east you go. Spring here comes later than it does in Ontario so it wouldn’t surprise me to have later starting dates.

We’ve got more maple trees than we had in Ontario but we have 25 times more land as well.

We use honey more than we use maple syrup.
I think we are doing this more for fun and human curiosity than to save money. It’s interesting.

It’s similar to feeding the humming birds. It’s a pita to do but the experience far exceeds the work put into it.
 
I'm in a valley in the Selkirk Mountains, southeastern BC, only 30 minutes above the U.S. border.

As for timing, it's recommended to collect sap when it's starting to flow, with the winter waning and outdoor temps not very warm yet. We've had such a crazy winter, such as I can't remember! I think it's probably too late here, now, to tap. You want the very sweet early sap.
 
JBR said:
I'm in a valley in the Selkirk Mountains, southeastern BC, only 30 minutes above the U.S. border.

As for timing, it's recommended to collect sap when it's starting to flow, with the winter waning and outdoor temps not very warm yet. We've had such a crazy winter, such as I can't remember! I think it's probably too late here, now, to tap. You want the very sweet early sap.
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I decided to look it up. It totally depends on the weather. For our area, March and April are the recommended months to tap and it’s recommended you tap for 6 weeks. If you start late however, you might not get the full 6 weeks. Here’s a video that explains when best to tap.

 
PeppermintPatty said:
Today we got these plastic taps to hook up to the tree for sap collecting. Once you take them out the maple tree holes fill themselves in within a year.

We are going to make our own maple syrup.
We have a lot of maple trees on our land so why not. Maple syrup to buy is expensive and I like to use it for baking in place of sugar. My husband likes it on his pancakes.

View attachment 335508
Click to expand...
That's great!
 
PeppermintPatty said:
Today we got these plastic taps to hook up to the tree for sap collecting. Once you take them out the maple tree holes fill themselves in within a year.

We are going to make our own maple syrup.
We have a lot of maple trees on our land so why not. Maple syrup to buy is expensive and I like to use it for baking in place of sugar. My husband likes it on his pancakes.

View attachment 335508
Click to expand...
That's great
PeppermintPatty said:
We got our first collection of sap and I’m shocked. We have been 1 1/2 to 2 gallons.
The consistency is much like water. We are bottling it in Masson jars. We will need plenty of them. Here is the maple sap.

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So, you boil that down a into syrup? I grew up on maple syrup in New England but never made any.
 
Sciguy said:
Very neat. I understand there is a lot of work involved between collecting the sap and boiling it down. And the amount of sap needed to get one gallon of syrup is crazy. No wonder pure maple syrup costs a small fortune.
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It is a lot of work but so is cutting our own wood and canning our own foods. We welcome the change. Not only am I going to can some syrup but I’m also going to make these maple syrup candies.

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