Maples and Me

Dear Farm,
I have some woods behind my house with several large maple trees. Can I tap them to make my own maple syrup this winter, or are we too far south? What do I need to get started?

D.L.
Tamaqua PA

Dear D.L.,

Great question! Yes, here in PA you can have your syrup and eat it too. Here's how to get started:

Select the right trees. There are many varieties of maple, but few that are suitable for tapping. The most popular are the sugar maple (acer saccharum) and the black maple (acer nigrum). Red and silver maples and box elders can also be tapped as well, but their lower sugar content means it will take more sap to make syrup. In a small backyard operation where the number of trees is limited, it may be a good idea to tap as many different varieties as you can. Here at the farm, we tap mostly silver maples because that's what we have. Important: All trees for tapping need to be at least 10 inches in diameter to avoid damaging or killing the trees.


Timing is everything. There are only a few weeks during the year that you can tap. The weather needs to be above freezing during the day , but below at night for the sap to run. This usually happens sometime in early March, though with the crazy weather lately, it's anyone's guess. Keep your eye on the weather and assemble all your supplies so you're ready when it comes.

Get ready to tap. To tap trees, you need a cordless drill or brace with a sharp 7/16" bit for a standard size spout (called a spile). You can buy spiles from maple supply companies One catered to the home tapper is the yankee grocery. Of course, there is always Ebay. You can also make your own by cutting a copper pipe into 3-4 inch sections. Choose a spot at least two feet from any old tap holes and drill a hole about 2 inches in, on a slight upward angle. Take your spile and tap it in with a rubber mallet or hammer. Make sure you get it in nice and tight, but be careful not to split the wood!

Attach Your Bucket. You can purchase special galvanized buckets with lids or use hoses that attach to the spiles and run to a bucket or collection device located in a central location. Any plastic bucket will work as well as long as it has a cover to keep debris out of the sap and a good length of rope to attach it to the tree. Untying the ropes every time you empty your bucket is time consuming, but doable if you only have a small number of trees. At the farm, we used empty gallon milk jugs with ropes. It worked great two years ago, but last year we had animals chew holes in the bottoms and drink our sap. We'll have to get something a little more heavy duty for our next round of tapping. Keep all your sap in a cold place until you are ready to boil- it can spoil quickly! Please remember to remove the taps from the trees when you are done collecting.

Boil it Down. Once you have enough sap, get yourself a large pot and an outdoor fire or gas burner. The ones made for deep frying turkeys work great, and you may be able to find them on sale this time of year. Indoor boiling is not recommended-the process of evaporation creates a whole lot of moisture in the air which can cause your wallpaper and paint to peel.

Wait. And Wait. The boiling process takes a very long time. If you have a lot of sap, be careful to keep the level a few inches below the pot's edge or it may boil over. An old trick is to rub vegetable oil along the rim-that will help keep it from spilling out. As the level goes down, pour more sap in. Eventually, the sap will get thicker and sweeter. The temperature needs to reach 7 degrees above boiling. A candy thermometer is very helpful with this. In comercial maple syrup production, the goal is to get the sugar content between 66 and 67%. Any higher and the sugar crystallizes. Any lower and there is a chance the syrup can spoil. You can test yours with a hydrometer, or you can keep your syrup refrigerated and trust that it will be used up before it ever gets a chance to spoil. While the syrup is still hot, pour it though cheesecloth (To filter out debris) into sterilized jars or bottles. Congratulations, you just made yourself some maple syrup! Now for the pancakes to drizzle it over:

Sara's Pancakes
serves 3-5, depending on appetites

• 1 cup flour (whole wheat, buckwheat, masa harina, rye, oats ground up in the blender, any kind at all will work)
• 1 teaspoon baking powder (heaping if you are using a heavy flour)
• 1 egg (2 if you want more protein)
• 1 cup milk, buttermilk, or yogurt (you may need to add more to get correct consistency)
• butter
• optional ingredients: vanilla extract, almond extract (a little goes a long way!) cinnamon, molasses and ginger (a little bit of molasses and the ginger and cinnamon make delicious gingerbread pancakes. mmmm!)

Mix dry ingredients first. Add in the liquids and the spices and whisk until all lumps are removed. I keep my batter on the thicker side, about the same as cake batter. Use a ladle to pour batter into a well-buttered skillet on medium heat. It is better to make three or so 2" diameter pancakes than one big one. When bubbles start to show through, flip the pancakes. Cook em all up, pour on your new maple syrup, and enjoy!