Tap some maples

Here in Michigan, March, the last month of winter, has nearly arrived. Over the last couple snowy months, my friends and I have been trekking on snow shoes across northern Michigan, taking note of the vast swaths of mature sugar maples, seemingly dormant but full of promise. The trees may look barren, but are poised for their inevitable mighty return. From Old Mission Peninsula to Saugatuck, we’d stay in a snow covered cabin, family barn or cottage, drink homemade beer and mead and pour last year’s maple syrup over skillet cakes before heading out into the night to make fire and be with the trees. Such behavior is mere rehearsal for my favorite time of the year: maple syruping.

The practice of collecting sap and concentrating its low ratio of sugar into syrup was begun by Native Americans and adopted by American Colonists as an alternative to slave labor cane sugars. Today's store bought syrup is usually made not only from high fructose corn syrup, but also regular corn syrup, and bears little resemblance to its inspiration. True maple syrup has a strong, unified, clean and concentrated sweetness which I cannot remember ever tasting before my first full pan boiled down.

The sugar maple, Acer Saccharun, is abundant throughout the Northeast, from Ohio into Canada. In their book Michigan Trees, Barns and Wagner explain, "the word acer derives from the anchient word ac, meaning "sharp"", which refers to the leaf's pointed lobes. The trees are easiest to identify in the fall, when their broad five lobed and sharp leaves turn brilliant yellows, purples and reds, but identification is also possible after the leaves have fallen. First, look for a vase or spreading shape to the overall tree as opposed to round, oval or columnar. Now look to the bark. Deep fissures and dark grey, plated furrows should tip you off, but be careful not to tap an oak! These trees often reside in strands near each other, so to make sure you're looking at a sugar maple, follow a lower branch with your eyes out to the newest growth. The youngest twigs should be growing parallel to each other outwards from the young branch with a resemblance to a stick figure. When you have identified a few maples at least 6-8 inches in diameter, you are ready to begin.

Food authority Harold McGee has identified four conditions for a good flow of sap: "a severe winter that freezes the roots, snow cover that keep the roots cold in the spring, extreme variations in temperature from day to night, and good exposure to the sun." According to McGee then, this spring should prove a very successful year. As the roots begin to thaw, the stored sugar flows up to the braches, and with a drill bit and a spile, one can collect a little of this sweet water and make some syrup.

In order to do so, a goal and production plan is necessary. You’ll need to decide how many trees to tap. Depending on the weather, I have found each tree tapped will produce 1/2 to 1 gallon on a good flowing day. About 40 gallons of sap are needed to make 1 gallon of syrup. For my humble operation, I decided to tap 40 - 50 trees for a few days, collecting around 150 - 200 gallons, giving me the capacity to make 5 gallons of syrup over a few days of evaporating.
Next you’ll need to gather the necessary equipment. All one needs is a spile for each tree, brace and bit or power drill and a source of heat to evaporate to sap into syrup. I use 5/16" black plastic spiles and run a 5/16" hose into buckets placed on the ground in the snow below the trees. I tap the south side of the trees, a few feet off the ground, using a 5/16" drill bit. Try to drill into the tree at a slight upward angle. Take your time and drill a prudent hole - a sloppy job will leak sap down the side of the maple. Next, gently tap in the spile. You should almost be able to pull the piece out with your cold fingers. Carry a spool of 5/16" tubing and cut lengths that run shy of the bottom to prevent night time hose freezing.

After a few days of the right weather (40 F days and 20 F nights), haul the full buckets to the evaporator. I fill up a keg with a spigot used as a holding tank. I only collect as much sap as I'll need, knowing that I can only evaporate down to 3/4 - 1 gallon of syrup in 12-14 hours of boiling. (My system is not very efficient).

Almost any type of burner can be used as an evaporator. For small operations, a pot on the stove top or wood burner overnight will work great. For larger operations, an evaporating pan will be needed. For my medium size operation, I had a 22" long X 18" wide X 4" deep pan constructed from stainless steel with a spigot welded on one end. I heat it with two inexpensive turkey fryer burners fueled by 20lb propane tanks. Although it’s more effort, heating with wood would greatly reduce the cost of my system. To make syrup from sap, water is evaporated and the sweet maple sugars concentrated. The constant addition of sap should equal the evaporation rate. The sap depth in the pan should remain shallow and constant to increase the rate of evaporation. I set the drip on my keg holding tank and keep an eye on it until the rate is established. Be careful! Scorching a batch is easier than you think!

If you'd like, take a gravity reading of the sap. It could fall anywhere between 1 - 4%. Use the balling scale on a beer and wine hydrometer. Continue to taste the sap as it sweetens into syrup. When the syrup "fans" out from the side of your spoon, it is nearly finished. Watch the heat closely; I usually turn off one of my burners at this time. Check the gravity of the syrup with the syrup hydrometer - if it is close I run the syrup off into gallon glass jugs to be finished more accurately later on a single burner in a smaller pan.
The syrup can be poured through a strainer, straining bag or cloth to collect ash or other substances. I find that within a week or so in the glass jug the syrup falls clear. To finish the syrup, I pour off the leavings in the bottom of the jugs, bring the syrup to the perfect sugar level, pour through a strainer again and funnel into small glass bottles.

To learn more and acquire supplies visit www.sugarbushsupplies.com and www.sicilianosmkt.com.