Click below to listen to my 2 min. Garden Bite radio show: Maple syruping
The sap is flowing! It’s not too late to tap your trees for some golden goodness. Although it looks like water coming out of your tree! 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.
Years ago we tapped Silver Maples that produced delicious stuff. YOu can also tap Boxelder trees. So, apparently there is one good thing from a Boxelder tree.
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. Interestingly, 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. Many area parks tap trees and some of them have yearly pancake breakfasts, except for this year and last… alas!
More tomorrow on HOW to tap them! More on maple syruping from the Minnesota DNR