Click below to listen to my 2 min. Garden Bite radio show: It’s Maple Syrup season!
And the sap is running…. It’s not too late to tap your trees for some golden goodness. Although it’s not really gold out of your tree, it looks more like water! However… despite wonky weather, the sap is flowing! Milder days and cooler nights will do that. Nature does her thing.
You don’t have to have Sugar Maples to make some great syrup. The only difference is the percentage of sugar content in the tree sap. You can tap Boxelder trees even… who would have thought THEY had redeeming value?!
- You need about 40 gallons of maple tree sap to make 1 gallon of pure maple syrup.
- Interestingly, the United States and Canada are the only countries in the world to produce maple syrup. And only 19 States produce Maple Syrup.
- It’s a completely natural food, meaning nothing is added. Only water is evaporated from the sap.
- You need several freeze/thaw periods for a good sap flow. So the temps need to drop below freezing at night and then rise above during the day.
- A tapping tree should be at least 10 inches in diameter from 4 feet above ground. You can generally get 10 to 12 gals of sap per tree.
So if you have a few Maples in your backyard, you could make yourself a good batch of maple syrup and there is NOTHING like the real deal. March is a key month for sap flow as the trees stop flowing once their buds set.
This ain’t no Aunt Jemima! puremapleusa.com
Many area parks tap trees and some of them have yearly pancake breakfasts! Do a quick search to find one near you!
Information from the MN DNR on maple syruping and the Wisconsin Maple Syrup Assoc.
We’ll talk tomorrow about the process of tapping and making your own backyard maple syrup.