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Edited on Thu Jan-06-11 10:37 AM by Denninmi
About 6-8 weeks, and I can tap my trees. Last year, I waited until the middle of March, and it was too late. I only ended up making 4 quarts of syrup. Luckily, I had made 22 quarts the year before, and still had some left.
Maple syrup is actually easy to make, it just takes some time -- ok, a LOT of time. I really enjoy the process for its "primal" nature. The past few years, I've spent many a March evening out tending kettles of boiling sap over an open wood fire, and as a bonus I've enjoyed such things as beautiful starry skies, the distant call of flocks of migrating snow geese, the crackling fire, and the smell of the sap itself as it concentrates its maple goodness.
I did learn one thing last year. Sap turns into syrup "officially" at 219 degrees on a candy thermometer (at sea level, of course, it varies a little tiny bit with altitude). That is the temperature that it must reach in order to store without fermenting -- at that point, there is too little moisture in it to support the growth microbes that would spoil it (or, at least 'tis the theory). Last year, I decided that my syrup was too thin at the temp, so it took it farther, to as much as 222 degrees. Which proved to be a mistake -- it made it turn to HARD sugar in the jar, so hard it is almost impossible to get out, and so hard that a couple of the jars actually cracked. So, this year, I'll be content with 219, maybe 220, but no further.
For anyone with the ability to do this, I'd highly recommend you try it at least once, just to experience the process. Personally, I find it a rather good "investment" of my time, because hey, what else would I do on March evenings and weekends -- it's too early to do any good gardening in Michigan, and well, the housework will always be there in the morning. With "real" maple syrup selling at $15 - $18 a quart in northern Michigan, it's kind of nice to have my own stash to use and to give away as gifts.
I hope to do a lot better in 2011 than in 2010 -- ideally, I'd like to tie my 22 quart record from 2009. Now, mind you that is a LOT of sap. The conventional wisdom is that it takes 40 gallons of sap to make a gallon of syrup, but I find that this isn't really true. The trees I currently tap are silver maples, not sugar maples, and they actually have a higher sugar content in the sap -- sugar maple is "normally" 1 to 1.5 % sugar, whereas silver maple sap averages around 3%, and can go as high as 5% in select varieties grown under ideal conditions. I think the fact that my trees are "yard" trees grown in very good conditions, widely spaced, in a fertilized lawn, as opposed to competing for light and nutrients in a dense woodland with other trees, helps, too. I think it takes roughly 25 gallons of sap for me to make a gallon of syrup, but it varies somewhat from year to year and even within the sap period.
Finally, one other interesting thing -- the very first sap makes the palest syrup, it can be close to clear with just a little caramel coloration, and a delicate flavor. The very last sap can be extremely dark brown in color and strongly flavored or even a tad bitter -- ok for cooking/baking but not necessarily the best on a stack of pancakes.
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