Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Property Projects & Construction Making Maple Syrup

Sparky, it looks like you've become quite the "sugar daddy" !!!

Thanks guys. These four bottles are scheduled for arrival in Dallas, provided I can hook up with esshup sometime today. He's got his hands full.....pulling a loaded trailer, headed to Southern Indiana which is getting pounded with snow right now, and as of last night his internet was still down so he's unsure of his route.

We're trying to meet up somewhere along the way.



edit: This is what the trailer looked like after the first day on the road.

Be safe Sprk & Esshup. I hear we got 5" on our pond last night and more snow coming. Skies were clear when I left late afternoon... Just a dusting in Indy so far.

I don't know what sprkplug is sending to the auction, but if the box is correct it's BS engine parts. (Briggs & Stratton)

I think he posted a ways back that he uses old motor oil as a thickening agent. Now I am not trying to discourage other bidders mind ya!

Do you know what they want for disposal fees of used motor oil? Solved that problem!

Mmmm 30 wt. syrup I gotta bid on that!!

Sparkie,

Any update on the walnut syrup?

Boiled the last of our walnut sap today. Our hope is to combine it with the reduction from our last attempt, and finally have enough to take all the way to syrup. Need to wrap this up, as the temps are too warm to store sap, and the shop is due to explode with work any day. Actually, I'm betting that day will be tomorrow.

Grass is greening up FAST..


Did turn out another 65 bottles of maple, today.

Tony does Walnut syrup taste similar to Maple? Sorry if you've already covered this...I'm lazy, and want immediate gratification via information.

I wish I knew what it tasted like, TJ. As of right now, we haven't gathered enough walnut sap to enable us to make syrup. Walnut trees are apparently very stingy.

Sorry...

Tony - is it possible that walnut trees move sap at a different period than maples; similar to fish spawn periods?

I guess I'm curious what makes a tree a good candidate for syrup. Can one make syrup from other trees than Maple and Walnut I wonder? Cherry, persimmon, mulberry?

I just researched and found that unripe mulberries are mildly hallucinogenic!

I've been looking into that some. If time permits, I will be tapping my Box Elder trees next spring. Apparently, they make a very good syrup. .....Box Elder is a species of maple though

A good candidate is a tree with a full canopy, or crown. That gives the tree more "storage" for sap. Trees growing in the woods are usually surrounded for other trees, and they compete for sunlight...making them tall, but not much crown. Maples spaced out along main street in town, or out in the open somewhere, usually have much larger crowns and are coveted by sugarmakers. Trees further up in elevation tend to receive more sunlight over a given period, and this may increase their output also.

Serious efforts thin the woods (known as a sugarbush), aggressively to allow for greater growth of desirable trees.

And yes, different species produce sap, or run, at different times. We've found that the black walnuts begin earlier, temperature wise, than the maples, but do not give as much sap. It makes sense to me, since walnuts are the last trees in our area to bud out in spring, and the first to lose their leaves come fall.

You can tap a few different species of trees and make good syrup. Obviously maple is the most well known, with Birch probably coming in second. Walnut is gaining interest on the maple forum I frequent, (yes, there really is such a place), but that may be just because I won't shut up about it. Sugar maples have the highest sugar content when compared to silver or red maples, but we don't differentiate in our woods, we tap em' all. Box elders make great syrup, and they are considered a member of the maple family.

I wonder if the hallucinogenic quality carries through into the syrup? Now THAT would probably be a good mover.

Pancakes on Sunday morning, trippin' on the couch in the afternoon....I could totally sell that.

Unripe mulberries apparently are the ticket according to what I read - so while syrup might not a an option, trippy jam may be! Apparently the tea from unripe red and white mulberries is very popular in Japan.

So I drive by my neighbors house this afternoon and see they have two plastic milk cartons sitting on the ground around each of 6 or 8 maples in their yard with tubing running out of the trees. I guess I always thought you put one tap per tree. Is there some rule of thumb of how many taps based on tree diameter? These trees are probably 1.5 to 2 feet in diameter.

Edit: I could see thru the jugs and looked like each was about half full.

This probably explains why they cut down the mulberry tree at my old elementary school. Some do-gooder probably thought we were getting high, but I swear we only ever pelted people with the ripe ones and stained their clothes...

What I go by:

10-18" diameter, one tap.
18-24" diameter, two taps. We never go over two taps per tree.

Milk jugs make good, low cost sap buckets. Especially of you're using tubing and can set the jug on the ground. Drill a tight fitting hole in the lid, and rainwater and bugs won't be an issue. HOWEVER....honest-to-goodness sap buckets are tapered for a reason. Ice. When tapping in colder weather, sap will freeze, and the taper allows you to dump the ice while retaining the small amount of liquid that didn't freeze. Freezing concentrates the sugar, so dumping the ice saves you a lot of boiling time...the concentrated sap will not freeze as readily. Milk jugs freeze and there's no way to get the ice out until it thaws.

Except for one more crack at the walnut, we're all done. The flow has almost stopped, and the buds are swelling on the trees. Really screwy season. If anyone is interested, our end of season tally looks like this:

maple sap boiled...625 gallons.
maple syrup produced...14 gallons.
Average yield....44:1 (approx.)

Walnut....God only knows.

Pulling taps this weekend.

Sparkie,

Trying to learn here so I appreciate yer patience...Do you plug the holes from the taps with something when you pull them?

No Bill, the tree will heal on it's own, provided it was healthy to begin with. Older spiles (taps) were 7/16" diameter, while the newer ones are 5/16" diameter, in order to expedite the healing process. Nature begins to heal the wound as soon as you finish drilling the hole, and the sap will run less and less as time goes on. By six weeks or so the taps begin to dry out, as the tree closes off the wound.

I'll see if I can remember to grab a photo of a healed-over tap hole from last year.

Tony, this just went through my head:

Roses are red
Violets are purple
Sugar is sweet and so is maple surple

Roger Miller or?

I envy you being in an area where you can create that with all of the family involvements.

While you are talking tap holes, the tap does create a permanent mark inside the tree which discolors and creates a character mark in the wood(boards) when cut later. Some woodworkers like this, and others don't. Often when a mill is purchasing maple trees on a property they will ask whether or not the trees have been tapped. Value may go up or down depending.

Roger Miller indeed.

Shoot...just realized I forgot to grab a photo of a healed over taphole.

Last weekend's formation: A batch of dark on the left, medium on the right. That's all she wrote, except for the walnut. We had enough to fill last year's pre-orders, with a few bottles to spare. Should wrap things up in the next few days.

Hey Spark, have you ever come across info that eludes to Walnut syrup being problematic to some people. My thought is that the Tannins in the wood might be in the syrup too. Some folks are kind of "allergic" to walnut dust and such.