What Is the Difference Between Soft Maple & Hard Maple When Making Maple Syrup?

Maple syrup is made from the sap of both hard and soft maple trees

It's no secret that maple syrup comes from maple trees. But the syrup-making process differs slightly depending whether the sap is taken from a soft maple tree or a hard maple tree.

Varieties

Several varieties of maple trees produce sap that can be boiled down into sweet syrup. The most common include sugar maple and black maple, both known as hard maples because of their strong, heavy wood, and the red maple, referred to as soft maple because of its relatively soft, weak wood.

Sugar Content

At 2 percent sugar content, sap from the sugar maple tree is the sweetest of any maple variety, according to the University of Minnesota Extension. It is thus more cost-effective to make syrup with sugar maple, since less sap is required. Otherwise, the syrup-making process does not differ whether sap is taken from a hard or soft maple.

Flavor

Despite the difference in wood density and sugar content between hard and soft maples, sap from both trees produces similarly flavored syrup. However, the soft maple develops buds earlier in the spring season, shortening its syrup tapping season. Chemicals released during bud production can taint syrup flavor in all maple varieties, according to the Forest Service.

References

• University of Minnesota Extension: Identifying Maple Trees for Syrup Production
• USDA Forest Service: Red Maple

Resources

• VermontMapleSyrup.com: How Maple Syrup Is Made