We have always enjoyed the look of our mature maple trees. The full canopies provide abundant summer shade, while the changing seasons spread a palette of autumn colors across the yard, not to mention the memories our kids create by jumping into huge piles of leaves. However, one of the greatest benefits of the trees is the sap they provide in the spring.

I only faintly recalled information on the historical use of maple sap from childhood field trips to the local museum. So, we began researching maple syrup in the early months of 2018. We wanted to learn how we could collect the sap from the trees while creating an evolving learning experience for our young daughters.

We used a number of resources, including library books and online videos, to learn about maple syrup production. Because information on the topic is plentiful, I will provide a very brief explanation of the process that we used to collect and boil down our sap.

After collecting and ordering the needed supplies, we waited until the weather was just right before tapping the trees. The best time to collect sap from the trees is around March when the temperature drops below freezing at night and remains above freezing during the day. In 2018, we tapped six of our maple trees. Some trees were large enough that we could use multiple taps per trunk. After drilling the appropriately sized holes, we tapped spiles into the trees that would act as a spout and hold an aluminum bucket and cover. The clear sap immediately began to drip from the trees (much faster than we imagined it would). Over the next day, we would fill all twelve of our two-gallon pails. We transferred the sap into a large food-grade barrel, with the help of our children and nephews, and continued to collect the sap for a couple of days until we were ready to boil.

The sap that flows from the trees is a clear liquid, consisting of mostly water. The percentage of sugar in the water is so small that it takes roughly 40 gallons of clear sap to produce just one gallon of finished amber syrup. Therefore, the water has to be removed from the sap, and the easiest way to do that is by evaporating the water through boiling. We created a make-shift evaporator using stacked cinder blocks to support some stainless-steel steam pans. Then, we built a wood fire under the pans and continually added sap to the boiling liquid throughout the day. This process continued for hours, filling the yard with a sweet aroma. The sap became much darker in color as the clear water evaporated into the air.

Before that last bit of water boiled off, we transferred the remaining sap into a large pot. The final boil took place inside on the stovetop. We continued to boil the sap (and kept a close eye on the temperature) until nearly all of the water was removed and it finally became syrup. We then filtered and bottled the batch of finished syrup, a process we would repeat three times over the course of the next two weeks as we collected more sap.

We learned a great deal from the process and plan to include more trees in the sap harvest for 2022.