Tag: how do you make maple syrup

Posted on

Maple Sap DIY Cooking Methods

Maple sap cooking methods range from super simple to full-blown sugar shacks with high level equipment. So where do you start as a home sugarmaker just wanting to boil a few gallons of sap into pure maple syrup? This article will walk you through the most common DIY, proven, at-home cooking methods so you can get ready for the season.

Steamy kettle of maple sap over wood fire.

Start with Safety

Before we get any further into the boiling, let’s talk safety. During this process, you will be working with fire or flammable gases and handling large quantities of boiling hot, sticky syrup. Please be careful, especially if children are helping you. Wear long sleeves, pants, and gloves to protect from splatters. Don’t try to pour sap from large pans without help. Make sure you have a first aid kid and a bucket of water or hose nearby for emergencies.

Why Do We Boil Sap?

Maple sap is approximately 95% water and your job is to remove the water and concentrate the sugar into pure maple syrup. The flavor of your finished syrup is created by the caramelization of the sugars during the boiling process. The longer the sap is boiled in the pan, the darker and stronger the flavors become. Along with the tree qualities and storage/collection issues, flavor can also be affected by the cleanliness of your cooking and storage systems. Stainless steel is the best choice for boiling and glass jars or bottles are the best.

Indoors or Outdoors

You will be tempted to boil your sap down on the kitchen stove – be warned that everything around the pot will be sticky! Even the steam coming off your pot contains tiny bits of sugar which will cling to every surface. Instead of dealing with a sticky mess, make a space for yourself outside. You’ll need overhead shelter in case it starts to rain or snow or the weather turns cold while you’re boiling. This is why many build a “sugar shack” but a temporary outdoor space with a tarp ready to cover overhead works just fine. For small batches you can finish your syrup inside on the kitchen stove.

Maple Sugar Shack with steam coming out the chimney.

What Type of Cooker or Fuel Source

The boiling down process will take many, many hours and greatly depends on how much sap you’re starting with. The choice really depends on your access to wood or propane, how much space you have, and how much syrup you plan to make.

The key is surface area – the more surface area in the pan, the faster water will evaporate. This is why most people choose an oblong flat pan to boil in.

Small batches (10 gallons sap per year) can be cooked on a single-burner propane cooker (such as an outdoor fryer/turkey cooker). Larger batches require longer boils and bigger pans and most upgrade to a multi-burner propane cooker or a wood-fired evaporator. You can buy complete evaporator set-ups online or make your own. The DIY options are endless as long as you have time, space, and are a little handy with basic tools.

Outdoor boiling pan of almost-done pure maple syrup.

Building your own wood “stove” is fairly simple and does not require any special skills. Look online for “cement block evaporator plans” and you will find hundreds of ideas. Better yet, visit with another tapper and see how they’ve built their cooker. One of the tappers consulted for in our research used his brother’s metal working skills to build a cooker out of an old 55-gallon drum and an evaporator pan to fit the stove. The only requirement for your cooker is that it can sufficiently hold your pan 18- to 24-inches above the wood fire.

Along with your chosen cooking methods, you’ll need abundant fuel close to your cooking station – enough to last the many hours of boiling. Additionally, you’ll need sufficient lighting in case boiling or bottling goes past dark.

Evaporator and Boiling Pans

For a small-batch hobbyist the boiling process is less complex than for the commercial cooker. Large operations typically use a continuous-feed evaporator which continuously heats the sap, feeds it into another constantly-boiling evaporator pan, and then pours it off for finishing. This is necessary because adding cold sap to a boiling evaporator pan will cause the whole batch’s temperature to drop which will lengthen the boiling time. Most hobbyist tappers use multiple pots and pans to re-create this four-step process:

  1. The first batch of sap for the day is poured into the large evaporator pan, leaving at least 6” to 8” of headroom to prevent boiling over. If all the sap you have fits in your pan, you do not need to do Step 2.

2. Once the sap in the evaporator pan starts to boil and condense, you can start warming extra sap in your other smaller pans.

3. After this extra sap is heated to boiling, pour it into the larger pan remembering to leave headroom to prevent boil over. Continue this process until all your sap is in the large evaporator pan and boil the entire batch to the finishing point.

4. Finally, as the sap nears the 216°F mark in the large evaporator pan, it’s filtered and poured into large kettle (usually the same kettle you used to prewarm it) and then put on a smaller heat source to finish it. This last step keeps the syrup from becoming too shallow in the pan which can lead to overheating or burning.

The rate at which your water evaporates depends on numerous factors such as: pan size and construction; type of heat source; and even the temperature of sap being added to the evaporator. If using a shallow, rectangular pan with lots of surface area, it takes between 9 and 18 hours to produce one gallon of syrup. With a deep, circular pan, it will take much longer.

DIY Evaporator Pan on three-burner propane cooker.

Pre-made hobbyist sized evaporators can be bought online. The advantage of these are they have a draw-off spout which reduces spills and potential burns from trying to pour the boiling sap or syrup out. When buying a pan, choose a heavy-duty pan that can withstand prolonged heat – preferably a large, flat pan with sides at least 6- to 8-inches high to prevent boiling over. Many commercial kitchen supply stores sell large, flat roasting pans which will work for the first stage of boiling but are not thick enough to finish syrup in without burning. A high-quality stock pot works best for the final boiling stage.

You can also find older enamelware or stainless steel pans at auctions, yard sales, or online trading sites – just be sure they are spotless and not corroded or rusty. Keep in mind, though, that whatever system you invent, you will be pouring or moving boiling hot sugary substances out of it! If the pan is too unwieldy or large to move, you could risk serious burns or at least end up spilling your almost-finished syrup.

Large, multi-channeled sap evaporator pan with hydrometer ladle.

Make it Portable or Make it Decorative

Many wood-fired cookers look similar to backyard brick pizza ovens and you could easily adapt that design to fit your pan. Then after the season, you can still use it! If you don’t want to look at your cooker all year, consider building it out of material you can easily disassemble it or move it once the season is over.

Community Syrup Making

Consider joining forces with friends and neighbors to build a community cooker where everyone brings their sap and shares the process. This is a fun way to build time with family and friends; grow an outdoor-centered hobby; and boil more sap than you can do on your own. Join up with your local online groups to find other sugarmakers in your area. You might be surprised by how many folks are out there doing this same thing!

Posted on

When to Tap Maple Trees

The maple sugaring season varies by region but generally starts in late January and can last until mid-April. When the tree sap starts and stops running, though, depends greatly on day and nighttime temperature fluctuations: if temperatures fall below freezing at night but climb to the 40°F+ range during the day, the sap will begin to flow and it’s time to get out there and tap your maple trees! Watch the weather forecast for this upcoming freeze/thaw pattern but don’t tap your trees too early as it can cause the spiles to freeze in the taphole which may damage the tree. Remove your spiles when you have enough sap or when the tree buds out as that can lead to an off or “buddy” flavor in the finished syrup.

If you’re adventurous and trying other tree varieties, their seasons are slightly different from sugar maple.The freeze/thaw cycle does affect how well sap flows but in more temperate regions such as the Western United States, trees can be tapped all winter as long as they’re dormant. In all cases, sap will not produce good-tasting syrup if the tree is in bud or growing leaves. Here’s a quick rundown of the most popular non-maple trees that folks tap for syrup:

Birch: The sap run usually begins later in the year in late March or early April, often at the end of the maple sugaring season. Daytime temperatures need to get into high 40°s and low 50°s with cold nights to get the sap flowing. Because of this late-season harvest and warmer weather, the sap spoils more quickly if left sitting all day in the buckets so birch sugarmakers often must collect sap twice per day. The season, too, is shorter and typically lasts for only two to three weeks.

Black Walnut or Butternut: As with sugar maple,the sap flow depends on the same freeze/thaw cycle and the season begins at the same time. The length of the season, though, is sometimes a bit longer as these trees are often the last to bud out. You will notice that the color of the sap will darken over the season and the darker it gets, the more robust the finished syrup will taste.

Sycamore: The tapping season and sugarmaking process are identical to maple trees and the sap-to-syrup ratio is similar. The flavor, though, is not the greatest and many considered this a “syrup of last resort” due to its almost-scorched taste. It can, though, be blended with other saps and will add a bit of butterscotch flavor when mixed with maple or other syrups.

Now that you know when to tap, click here to learn more about how to tap, look here for how to make it into maple syrup. Of course, all this info (and more!) is in our book included with every kit!

Don’t forget, during the tapping season we put out a weekly newsletter with lots of great info. Sign up here if you’d like to get the Tapping Times and you’ll also get a FREE Quick Guide to Maple Tapping ebook.

Posted on

Can You Freeze Maple Sap?

Frozen sap running into maple bucket
Frozen sap out of maple spile into bucket

Have you been wondering if it would be faster to freeze the water in your sap instead of boiling it down? We’ve all found our sap buckets with chunks of ice after a really cold night and we know that ice is mostly water, so why not just toss it out and save time evaporating it during boiling? Early sugarmakers did just that mostly because they didn’t have access to heavy-duty tools that would stand up to high heat. Large modern day sugarmakers are using freeze concentration in their operations to save time. If you’d like to try it out this season, this article will highlight the hows and whys of freezing sap and we’ll begin with this author’s unscientific freeze experiment.

 Because necessity is the mother of invention . . .

I tried my very own freeze experiment in 2015 mostly because it was an abysmal sap year and I wanted to boil all my sap at once at the end of the season. I only gathered about 20 gallons of sap in 2015 so as I collected it, I filtered it, and froze it in five-gallon-buckets. It was cold enough outside that we just put the buckets in the shade and banked them with snow. Sure enough a big block of ice formed in each bucket. When I was ready to cook, I let the buckets thaw a bit and poured the liquid into my pot. As you can see from these pictures this left a lot of ice in the bucket. I boiled my syrup as usual and ended up with the standard yield of about 40-to-1.

pink bucket with frozen chunk of water and maple sap

But while I was boiling my first batch of sap, those big chunks of ice melted. I just couldn’t help myself so I boiled these former ice chunks down and do you know what? I ended up with more syrup but it was probably closer to a 50-to-1 yield. So in my unscientific judgment, freezing did work somewhat to concentrate the sap but if I would have thrown out that ice, I would have lost about a half-quart of syrup!

Now I’m not saying it doesn’t have merit and if you can freeze your sap outside, you would use zero energy for at least part of your concentrating steps. One way to try this would be to use a multi-stage freeze/thaw method where you let the ice chunks melt, then pour off the liquid to boil, and then start the freeze/thaw/cook method over again.

One thing everyone agrees on, though, is you still must boil your sap to achieve the caramelized color and flavor we all love. Besides it has to be heated up for bottling anyway and there’s no way around that!

A more proven freeze method.

  Beyond this backyard trial and error, the professionals have been working out a way to freeze the water in sap as it flows through the lines into the sugar shack. The upfront cost and set up of these systems is not really feasible for the hobbyist but it’s interesting to take a look at the method. Typically at the end of the mainline but before the storage tank, the sap is run through a refrigerated pipe. The water freezes, concentrating the sap which continues to flow through into the storage tank for boiling. The ice is melted and drained off.

Posted on

When Does Tapping Season End?

There are three simple ways to tell when the oh-so-short maple tapping season is done.

Sign #1: You Have Enough Maple Syrup!

We sincerely hope you reach your personal goal of maple syrup production before the season officially ends. This is usually indicated when your shelves are overflowing with maple syrup and your family is begging you to stop boiling sap and go get some groceries already because they are tired of pancakes!

But we all know you really can never have enough pure maple syrup so most of us rely on the next signs to know when to stop.

Sign #2: Weather Warms Up and Sap Slows Down

The forecast says it all . . . as nighttime temperatures warm up past freezing (and stay there), sap runs to the top branches which causes the tree to bloom or bud out. Also, the warmer the weather, the more energy the tree has to heal the taphole you’ve drilled which cuts off the sap flow from that spile (this is sometimes referred to as “drying out” but it really is just sealed over). Anyway, once you see buds, you’ve moved onto Sign #3.

Sign #3: Buds Open Up

As the warm weather and Spring Fever grips us with dreams of gardening, it also encourages the tree to open up its little buds and start growing leaves. But once those buds open up, the sap takes on an off-flavor and makes for odd-tasting syrup and the sugaring season has come to its end.

When You’re Done: Pulling the Taps

Once you’ve decided to stop collecting sap, gently pry your spiles from the trees. Just leave the taphole as is and it will naturally heal over the summer. Thoroughly rinse your equipment in hot water but do not use dish soap. Some folks use a mild bleach and water solution (especially for tubing) but you must thoroughly rinse all equipment so no traces of bleach remain. After everything is dried, pack it away for next year.

If you’re really adventurous, you can find a way to extend your season by tapping other varieties of trees such as birch or black walnut. Their seasons last a bit longer than sugar maples, read more on our blog here . . .

Posted on

How to Calibrate a Syrup Thermometer

thermometer in boiling maple syrup
Thermometer in boiling syrup

Because the syrup-making process relies so heavily on an accurate temperature reading, it’s best to calibrate your thermometer before each day’s boiling session. Readings can be affected by barometric pressure, by altitude, by mishandling of the thermometer (yes, we’ve all dropped ours!), or even if you’re using a brand new thermometer.  

The purpose of calibrating it is to find the temperature at which water begins to boil — normally this is at 212°F for most maple tapping altitudes. (If you live at higher altitudes check online for your normal water boiling temperature.) Once you know your thermometer’s reading, you can then add 7° to determine your syrup’s finish point of 219°F. For instance, if your thermometer shows a temperature of 213°F when water boils, you’ll know it is off by +1°F, so you’ll know to boil the sap to 220°F (as shown on your thermometer). Don’t worry, you’ll figure it out! 

How to calibrate a thermometer:

1. Place your thermometer in a pan of distilled water making sure to have 2-inches of room on all sides and up from the bottom of the pan. Make sure you start with enough water to keep your thermometer’s bulb or reading tip submerged for five minutes even as water evaporates.

2. Heat distilled water to a rolling boil. Leave thermometer in boiling water for five minutes, remove from water, and hold at eye level to read temperature.

3. Take note of temperature in relation to baseline: If it is +/- 212°F, add or subtract this range to your finish boil target temperature as described above.

If you get wildly different readings each time you calibrate your thermometer, you can safely assume this thermometer is no longer reliable you should buy a new one.

Our Ultimate Tapping Kit (order here) includes a thermometer like the one shown here — you can also use a digital one or a standard glass thermometer. Just make sure it has marking or readings to one-degrees.

Posted on

How to Make Maple Syrup

 Pure maple syrup is one of nature’s sweetest treats and making it yourself is much simpler than you think! All you need is a maple tree, regular kitchen tools which you most likely already have, and some patience. The process is not complicated and you can easily learn everything you need to know in one season. This short article walks you through the boiling process but be sure to click over to How to Tap Trees to learn about that step (we promise, quick and easy with minimal tools!).

Step One: Sugar Shack Preparation

The boiling process can take many hours, lots of fuel, and everything around the pots will be covered in a sticky film. Even the steam coming off the sap has tiny bits of sugar! For this reason, most sugarmakers boil their sap outside and many create a separate “sugar shack” to house their cooking and bottling operations. As a hobbyist, it’s not essential to build an entire sugar shack but you will need a cooker, some kind of overhead shelter with lighting, an abundant source of fuel such a split firewood or a large propane tank, and a work surface for bottling. You can find pre-made hobbyist evaporator pans from large suppliers as well as many DIY “evaporator plans” if you’d like to build your own cooking stove. Our book, Guide to Maple Tapping, also includes much more information on the tools needed for a well-functioning sugar shack.

Step Two: First Filter

Sap is first filtered on the day it’s collected to remove debris or insects. Simply pour the sap through a piece of clean cotton cloth such as tee-shirt or a few layers of cheesecloth. Any materials used for filtering must not have been washed with detergent. The filtered sap is then either cooked immediately or chilled in a food-safe container until it’s time for boiling. Chilled sap will keep for up to five days but it’s best to cook it right away. Sap can also be frozen which might actually speed up the cooking process, click here for a short article on that.

beginning stages of boiling maple sap. Foamy top inside large metal kettle.

Step Three: Beginning Boil

Filtered sap is poured into a shallow evaporator pan and cooked over high heat. Because sap will sometimes boil over, 3- to 6-inches of space must be left at the top of the pan. This means that all the day’s sap may not fit into the evaporator pan at once. In this instance, the additional sap is warmed separately and added to the main batch as it boils down. This process is continued until all the sap is boiling in one big batch. Sap is boiled as aggressively as possible until the temperature reaches approximately 216°F.

dark brown boiling maple syrup in large kettle.

Step Four: Second Filter and Finish Boil

When sap reaches the 216°F range, remove it from the main heat source and filter through a thin prefilter designed for maple syrup making. This filtered sap is then boiled in a smaller pot on a cooker such as a regular kitchen stove or outside propane cooker. Watch carefully until the sap reaches 219°F (the temperature at which it becomes syrup).

Step Five: Final Filter and Bottling

three small jars of dark brown maple syrup

After it reaches 219°F, remove syrup from the heat and run through a two-layered filter to remove sugar sand or niter. The outside filter is a thick filter, the inside filter is the same type of thin filter used in step four. [If you’re using a hydrometer, now is the time to test your syrup — more on that below.] Suspend your filter over a large kettle (or into a clean coffee maker as shown here) and bottle syrup immediately. Try to avoid touching the rim but it’s also wise to wipe each rim with a hot, clean cloth before sealing. Seal bottles making sure to tip upside down so the hot liquid helps ensure a good seal (Make sure and use standard kitchen food safety guidelines.) Place jars sit on their sides for 24 hours, turning after the first 12 hours.

Using a hydrometer: most professional sugarmakers and those selling syrup use a hydrometer to test sugar content and grade the finished product. It is not an essential step but can improve the quality of your syrup.


Step Six: Storage

After the jars have cooled, they are wiped clean and stored away in a cool, dry place. Properly bottled and sealed pure maple syrup will keep for up to one year. Maple syrup can also be frozen indefinitely – it will not harden, though, due to the high sugar content. Once opened, syrup should be stored in the refrigerator and used within six months of opening. If you notice any mold or discoloration, discard the contents as it may not be safe to eat. Also, do not store your syrup in plastic containers as the syrup may absorb odd flavors or odors from the plastic.

A Few Common Questions

Why is my syrup cloudy or crystallized?

This sugar sand, or niter, is sometimes left if your syrup was not filtered enough. It can also be created by boiling the sap too far past the finishing point. In either case, it does not affect the quality of your syrup and will usually sink to the bottom during storage. You can reheat your syrup and put it through another filtering to remove the sugar sand.

What makes sap into syrup?

Sap becomes syrup as the water is removed through evaporation and the sugars become concentrated. The flavor of your finished syrup is created by the caramelization of the sugars during the boiling process – the longer the sap is boiled in the pan, the darker and stronger the flavors become. Flavor can also be affected by the tree’s qualities and genetics; by the time of year and method through which sap is collected; and by the cleanliness of the boiling room and storage containers.

How long does it take to boil down the sap?

The rate at which your water will evaporate depends on numerous factors such as: pan size and construction; type of heat source; and even the temperature of sap being added to the evaporator. If using a shallow, rectangular pan with lots of surface area, it takes between 9 and 18 hours to produce one gallon of syrup. With a deep, circular pan, it can take as little as 28 hours and as long as 56 hours.

Can I use maple syrup instead of sugar in my cooking?

It is a good substitute but will impart a maple flavor to your dish. Generally, one cup of pure maple syrup equals one cup of sugar and can be swapped out in most recipes. For cookies and cakes that also use liquid ingredients, just reduce the liquids by three tablespoons for each cup of maple syrup used.

What kind of trees can I tap?

Hard maples, also called sugar maple, black maple, or rock maple, have the highest sugar content and produce the best tasting syrup. You can also tap the red or silver maple but the sugar content is lower so you’ll have lower syrup yields and longer boil times. Folks also tap the box elder tree and the finished product has a heavy, sorghum-like flavor. Refer to an illustrated tree guide for identification tips or look in our book, Guide to Maple Tapping, for more information.

What parts of the country produce maple sap?

Because the sap “run” is triggered by the freeze-thaw cycle, maple syrup is only produced in the Upper Midwest, the Northeastern U.S., and Canada.

When should I tap trees?

The tapping season varies from region to region but generally starts in early March and lasts until mid-April. When the sap starts and stops running depends greatly on day and nighttime temperature fluctuations. Watch the weather forecast – sap starts flowing when the temperatures are below freezing at night but climb to the 40°F and above range during the day. If this freeze/thaw pattern is predicted, get out and tap your trees! Remove your taps when you have enough sap or when the tree buds out as that can lead to an off or “buddy” flavor in the finished syrup.

How much sap or syrup will I get from each taphole?

The amount of sap each taphole yields varies greatly depending on the tree, the time of year, environmental conditions such as the weather and soil conditions, and even at what point you are in the tapping season. In a normal season, a single taphole produces approximately 10- to 12-gallons of sap. Your finished yield of syrup will depend on the sugar content of your sap. Generally, assume a 40-to-1 conversion – so 12 gallons of sap will boil down to 1 quart of syrup. With this ratio in mind, you’d need four tapholes to produce one gallon of syrup for the season.

Does tapping hurt the tree?

If the tree is healthy when tapped and proper tapping procedures are followed, the taphole will start healing within weeks of the spile’s removal. Many maple tree farms have been tapping the same trees for over 100 years. Each taphole, however, must be placed in a different spot on the tree from the previous year. One thing to note: the bottom 4- to 6-foot “tapping zone” will result in trees that are less valuable if cut down for lumber.