by William Coolidge

Created on: January 02, 2007   Last Updated: April 08, 2011

For any of you who live in the Northeast and upper Midwest, where sugar maple trees are indigenous, the production of maple syrup is a wonderful seasonal hobby. All you need to get started is access to a few maple trees, some spouts, a few buckets or other containers to collect the maple sap in, a battery- or hand-powered drill, and a way to "boil down" the maple sap that you collect.

Most maple sap spouts are 7/16" in diameter, so you will need a drill bit of that same diameter to drill your tap holes into the tree. A maple tree should be at least 12" in diameter before it is considered old enough to tap. This generally equates with a tree that is approximately 40 years of age. Once you have drilled the hole, 'tap' in a spout, and hang a galvanized metal bucket or other container from the spout. A cover of some type is also recommended, to help keep mice and squirrels, wind-blown dust and other debris, and precipitation from getting into your maple sap.

Once you have collected a large amount of maple sap (remember: it takes approximately 40 gallons of sap to produce 1 gallon of pure maple syrup!), it is time to pour it into a large, flat pan or other vessel, and begin the long, slow, sticky evaporation process. We use a small, commercial evaporator, manufactured specifically for the purpose (available from Leader Evaporator Company in St. Albans, VT, as well as other manufacturers ~ Google will provide you with many commercial sources of maple sugaring equipment); but you can use a 2- or 3-gallon cookpot on your electric or gas range to accomplish the boiling process.

Just be advised that in the evaporation of all that sweet liquid, a lot of sticky steam is produced, so be sure to have your exhaust fan turned on, above your kitchen range!

Another item that is very handy, although not a necessity, is a candy thermometer, in order to tell when the maple sap has reached the right temperature and consistency to be called maple syrup. Maple sap "boils" at 7 degrees above the boiling point of water, which as everyone knows, is generally considered to be 212 degrees; however, this can vary depending on the elevation above sea level at which you live, as well as the barometric pressure on any given day. So, a little trick that most syrup producers use is to place a pan of water on the stove, complete with thermometer, and check to see what the boiling point for water is at that time, then add 7 degrees to that number and you'll know when your maple sap has reached

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