How to Tap for Maple Syrup

With the cost of maple syrup, like almost everything else these days, on the rise, adventurous sugar-seekers are starting to look in their own backyards to fill their collective sweet-tooth needs. If you have maple trees on your property, savor the sweet smell of success when you follow these simple directions to tap up to 20 gallons of sap—enough to create two quarts of unprocessed, wholesome syrup from each tree.

Things You'll Need

• Maple trees with trunks at least 10 inches wide
• Drill with iron or steel brace bit
• 7/16 inch or standard ½ inch wooden spout or tapered metal spile
• Galvanized 2 or 3 gallon buckets or plastic 1 gallon milk containers
• Evaporator or large roasting pan
• Long spoon for stirring
• Plenty of fuel for outdoor evaporation
• Candy thermometer
• 1-2 gallon pot
• Large strainer
• Cheese cloth, felt or thick paper towels

Instructions

Tap for Sap

1. Using a bit and brace, drill at roughly a 10-degree upward angle, no more than 3 inches into the wood. If you drill too deep, it could damage the tree. Locate the tap hole at least 2 feet off the ground, and make the hole just smaller than the mouth of the spout or spile to be inserted.

2. Insert the spile or spout immediately after drilling the hole. Gently tap the spile to avoid damaging the tree.

3. Use clean galvanized buckets or plastic gallon milk jugs to collect the sap. Hang the container by a string underneath the stile or spout. Cover as soon as you finish collecting the sap.

4. Store sap outdoors for up to three weeks in large, covered plastic containers. When the weather becomes warm, remove the spiles from the trees, and bring the sap containers indoors.

5. Boil sap down using a kerosene stove, a bonfire, coal burning range or other outdoor heating source. Evaporating the sap is best performed outdoors, unless you want a sticky residue on your kitchen counters and walls.

6. Fill pan half full of sap, and boil over heat source. Use thermometer to check temperature at which the sap starts to boil. Use the strainer to skim off scum as it forms. Add more sap to prevent scorching, and when the temperature reaches 7 degrees above that temperature, the syrup is ready.

7. Remove the syrup from the heat source, and strain it into the large pot through the cheesecloth, felt or thick paper towels. This process will remove any impurities.

8. Bottle your syrup immediately, before it cools. If you plan to store your syrup for an extended period of time, use traditional canning methods that do not require preservatives, transferring the syrup into sterile mason jars or bottles. Or just refrigerate your syrup to keep it fresh for several months.

Tips & Warnings

• Tap trees in late winter or early spring, just before the blossoms open. Hot weather can promote bacterial infections in tapped trees, and the flavor is best pre-blossom, when the sugar content is high. Large trees can be tapped in several spots, but small trees should have no more than two taps inserted, to prevent damage. Taps should be placed at least 6 inches from previous scars.

• To be extra certain that all impurities are removed, strain syrup twice before bottling. Do not freeze syrup, as this can affect the flavor in a negative way.

• Because sap is extremely sticky, be sure not to splatter your skin when straining or transferring syrup from one container to another.

Resources

• Making Maple Syrup