Maple syrup season

Mon. Mar. 9, 2020

Click below to listen to my 2 min. Garden Bite radio show: Maple syrup season

Once you taste the golden goodness of the real deal, there’s no going back! Maple syrup is a necessity on pancakes, oh and in so many other recipes!

The temperatures were delightful last week! I hope you had a chance to relish in them and in the sunshine too! Two ingredients ripe for sap flow.

Maple syrup commercial lines

You don’t need Sugar Maples to make some great syrup, Silver maples are just fine. The only difference is the sugar content in the tree sap.

Silver maples tapped

Even Boxelder trees, a type of Maple, can be tapped for syrup but expect to get a PINT of syrup out of 40 gallons while a maple tree will deliver a gallon of that liquid gold from 40 gallons of sap.

Boxelder trees

Interestingly, the United States and Canada are the only countries in the world to produce maple syrup. Interestingly, only about 19 states produce Maple Syrup with Vermont the top producer. 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. Now’s the time to get started.

March is a key month for sap flow as the trees stop flowing once their buds set. 

Resources to get you started: