Well Uncle Sam has nothing on Mother Nature and they both have taught me patience with the Hurry Up and Wait routine. We hurried and tapped in January only to wait for the first run, now we’re waiting again for the freeze to let up. We haven’t boiled in about 2 weeks. Tomorrow into next week is finally looking good again. Ideally we want temps to drop below freezing at night then warm during the day – but not too warm so the sap stays cold. We also don’t want it to stay warm too many days in a row without freezing because the tree will start sending its energy – the sap- into it’s branches to begin making leaves and buds. This happens at the end of the season and the syrup takes on a “buddy taste” and we stop sugaring for the year.
Sap yield per tree ranges from 10 – 20 gallons of sap per tree – depending on age, condtion and season. It takes 40 gallons of sap to make 1 gallon of syrup (sugar content does factor in here). So it can take 2-4 trees to make 1 gallon of maple syrup. The sugar concentration of sap runs about 2% +/- we then run the raw sap through our Reverse Osmosis to increase the concentration to 12-16% sugar. This “sweet” is then boiled until it reaches a Brix measurement of 66.9*which is a density measurement to make sure the syrup has the right consistency or viscosity ( the ability of a liquid being able to flow). This gives the syrup the right texture and flavor concentration.
My father says “Sap is like Holy Water – you gotta boil the Hell out of it”
