We’ve had our taps in for a little over a week now and let’s just say things are going much slower than I had hoped for in the sap collecting department here at Casa De Butterfield. 😉
Generally sap is supposed to flow for 4 to 6 weeks during the late winter/early spring with the best sap being produced early on in the sap-flowing season.
We are a little over 1 week into our experiment and so far, all we’ve been able to collect from the 2 maple trees on our property is roughly 2.7 gallons of sap. For those of you who don’t already know, it takes 40 gallons of sap to produce 1 gallon of maple syrup.
It took so long {nearly a week!} to fill our first container of sap that we had to put the jug in the freezer so the sap wouldn’t go bad. We’ve already sunk $170 into this little project of ours and at the rate we’re going, it looks like we’ll be lucky to get just a few small jars out of this whole venture.
And that’s only if everything goes well when it comes to the boiling process!
Producing your own maple syrup. It’s not for the faint at heart, that’s for sure. Now I know why they call it liquid gold. 😉
Here’s to warmer temps and MORE sap!
~Mavis
Cindy Miller says
Here’s to warmer temps for sure! I hope you get at least a couple gallons more so we can follow the whole process to the end.
Pauline in Upstate NY says
That whole “early sap makes the best syrup” thing refers to the fancy grade, light color stuff sold to tourists in pretty glass bottles. For both cooking and eating, I *much* prefer the late season syrup. It’s darker and has a more pronounced “maple” taste to it. The early stuff is all looks, IMHO. Enjoy the adventure and don’t judge the whole experience by the first year; there can be a lot of variation in flow and sweetness from year to year, even from the same tree.
Ashley Bananas says
Ask neighbors if you can set up a tap or two on one of their trees. My neighbor as a child tapped trees and boiled syrup down in a wood stove in his backyard. He used milk jugs as catchers, and nails for tappers. The syrup was wonderful!
Linda Practical Parsimony says
This is fascinating.
Barbara W says
The process that you go through makes one appreciate maple syrup that much more!
Jennifer says
Dh’s dad always said you had to have somebody to love, something to do and something to look forward to and I have tried to live that. This maple syrup adventure covers two of those bases and if nothing else may help justify the cost.
Karen says
Dear Abby, the famous advice columnist, used to say that, too. So true!
Yes, tap more trees!
Mel says
If you can freeze the sap, is there any reason why you can’t combine this year’s sap with next year’s to get a better yield? I’m not big on making sure experimental projects having to be cost-effective (I did, after all, spend $800 trying to trap a stray cat who it turns out had already been trapped), but I wouldn’t want to mess with boiling down the sap until I had enough to make it worthwhile.
Mavis Butterfield says
No, you could, but it would take up a crazy amount of freezer space {leaving no room for summer fruits and veggies}. And your $800 cat experiment still makes me smile. 🙂
Mel says
At least that cat let me pet her like a real cat this morning! She’s still very awkward, but i think she’s learning.
And yes, I’m not reasonable about freezer space either–I still need to deal with 70 lbs of frozen tomatoes sitting in ours.
Mavis Butterfield says
70 pounds!!! 🙂 You crack me up Mel. Only 4 months to go until the fresh ones start appearing in the garden.
Jenny says
Bless you, for trying to help a living creature! I’ve had similar experiences.
Jules says
I’m enjoying watching the process!
GrannyB says
Now we all understand why it is expensive to buy pure maple syrup. I will definitely appreciate it more now seeing this process.
LindaT says
When. Was a kid in Maine we had 4 BIG sugar maple trees in the yard and did finally get enough to boil. My mom did it the kitchen though, and our walls got sticky and damp, to the point where the wallpaper was coming off. I know you know not to do that! But we never got much syrup. Some. Not much. I do think it is early to give up hope. Cold nights and warm days make the sap run I think, and isn’t your weather still pretty cold day AND night? I’m keeping my fingers crossed for you.
Cecile says
Sap only flows during specific temperatures, -5 C to +5 C, the more often the day gets over 5C the quicker the sap starts absorbing into the trees to feed the buds for the leaves. For lots of sap you want steady temperatures over the 4-6 weeks that the sap usually flows.