Sugaring: Amateur Style
(Page 2 of 6)
January/February 1975
By Bruce N. Coulter
How do you know for sure when the maple sap is ready to gather? Let's say that—some night in late February or early March—the temperature is below freezing as you go to bed. Then, during the night, the wind changes and you wake up to find the mercury climbing, the snow melting and the sun coming up in a clear sky. The "run" has begun and you must be up and doing.
RELATED CONTENT
The truth about raw sugar, light, dark brown and Kleenraw sugar. The facts of sugar refining, and w...
It's worth spending the extra money to buy real maple syrup. It tastes infinitely better than the c...
A Sap-Seeker's Field Guide...
Kit building can be a good way to provide yourself with a ham radio rig....
Sap is extracted from the sugar maple by "tapping", which means boring a hole in the trunk of the tree to cause a flow of juice. This process does no harm unless the tree is too small—it should be at least a foot in diameter—or the number of holes excessive. (A twelve-inch trunk can take only one taphole, but you can hang two buckets on an 18-inch tree, three on a 24-incher, and so on.) In a normal season the yield from each tap usually runs from two to four pints of syrup.
To tap a maple you need a brace and a 7/16-inch bit, with which you bore a hole in the tree about breast high and two to three inches deep. Although the location of the taphole doesn't really matter in the long run, you'll get the quickest results by drilling on the south or sunny side of the trunk. When the warming influences take effect the sap begins to flow (not literally . . . it comes in drops, sometimes in pretty rapid succession).
The Indians and early settlers used to cut two gashes in the tree to form a "V" and stick a twig or chip at the bottom point to direct the sap into a collection pail. Since you're using the less damaging method of drilling holes in the trunk, you must insert a tube into each opening to direct the juice into a receptacle of some kind. Spouts (also called "spiles") are available commercially. If you'd rather create your own equipment, however, you can make your spiles by removing the pith from short lengths of stick. I've used sumac, mullein stalks, bamboo and willow for this purpose. The store-bought spout has a hook on which to hang the bucket, but a nail driven into the trunk just above the tube does just as well.
The sap container can be a tin can, a Mason jar with a wire twisted around the neck or any ordinary bucket or pot. Its contents should be protected by some kind of cover . . . not absolutely essential, but without it rain and snow will dilute the sap and—along with twigs, dust and insects—will affect the flavor of the syrup and impair the desirable light color. You can make lids for your receptacles from tin or plywood.
No matter how simple or how elaborate your equipment may be, and no matter how much sap you work with—from one tree or fifty—the basic process of sugaring is one of evaporation. This operation should be started when a few gallons of raw material have accumulated . . . as soon as possible after the sap flows into the pail. Of course, you'll always have a supply waiting to be fed into the evaporator—a galvanized waste can does very well as a holding tank—but the juice spoils if left standing too long, especially in warm weather.
Page:
<< Previous 1 | 2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
Next >>
