Ecology

Maple Sugering

Lizzy Ryan
Strawberry Hill Nature Preserve

(2/2021) Winter is finally here! I know some of you probably are rolling your eyes because you hate the thought of the cold temperatures and snow. But I love it! I love playing in the snow with my dog and there’s just something about sitting on the couch with a cup of hot cocoa watching the snow fall that really makes me happy. Winter is also the time for maple sugaring!

Maple sugaring happens in just a few short weeks in February and March. In order for sap to flow, temperatures have to be below freezing (32EF/ 0EC) at night and above freezing during the day. The harvest season ends with the arrival of warm spring nights and early bud development in the trees. The exact dates for these temperature variations can be wildly different from year to year, so every maple sugaring operation has to be vigilant for the first signs of sap flow.

The maple trees at Strawberry Hill are all tagged and ready to go for tapping. I tag them in the summer so I can see their leaves to tell that it’s a maple. Even though I’m a naturalist, I am not proficient with everything in nature. I have a hard time identifying trees in the winter when they don’t have leaves.

You can tap sugar, red, silver, or Norway maples. You can even tap birch trees, black walnuts, and sycamores. We mainly tap red maples. Last year, I tapped black walnuts for the first time. I was very surprised at the amount of sap they produced! I got a small, 4oz jar from tapping 3 trees. In my opinion, it tasted the same as maple syrup, but some say it has a nutty flavor.

After identifying the tree(s) you are going to tap, you’ll need to drill a hole. A tree that is 8-20 inches in diameter can have one tap, 21-27 inches in diameter can have two taps, and more than 27 inches can have 3 taps. Drill a 2-inch-deep hole using a 5/16th drill bit. Make sure to clear out the wood shavings from the hole. Then gently hammer the tap (with a hook) in. Sap can be collected in the traditional method using buckets. Most metal taps have a small hook, from which a bucket may be hung. This extracts only about 10% of the sap produced by a tree each year.

Another method of gathering sap is by using plastic tubing. This tubing can be connected to the plastic taps. When tubing is used, in commercial operations, a vacuum pump is often connected to the tubing to improve sap collections on cloudy days.

Depending on temperature and size of your buckets, you may need to collect the sap more than once a day. Once it has been collected, it can be stored in a fridge or freezer. Sap will spoil if it is not kept cold.

The final step of evaporation. This isn’t something you want to do in your kitchen. There will be so much steam that it can peel the wallpaper right off your walls! Start boiling sap over a fire outdoors in a large pot. After boiling it down to a point where it looks brown, you can transfer it to a smaller pot and bring it indoors to finish evaporating it off. Just make sure there is some ventilation. You will really need to pay attention at this point. The sap can quickly turn to syrup and if you’re not careful, to maple candy (been there, done that). Eventually, the sap will turn to syrup once it hits the right temperature. "If you have a candy thermometer, finish the boil when the temperature is 7 degrees F above the boiling point of water (Tap My Trees)." After this, you’ll need to filter your syrup. Use cheese cloth or coffee filter. This will get out any of the sediment that has settled in the syrup. Lastly, you can bottle it!

Each season we use dozens of spiles, tubes, and buckets to collect maple sap. Countless hours are spent gathering from buckets and tending the evaporating pan as the sap condenses down into sticky, sweet syrup. It takes many gallons of sap to make a single gallon of syrup (come visit us to find out just how many!).

Maple sugaring is a lot of hard work.

So why do we do it? For you! Maple sugaring is a fantastic educational experience, with significant links to history, chemistry, geography, and – of course – ecology. During private programs, participants learn the maple sugaring process, from tree to table. We begin with the Native American origins of the process, and bring our visitors all the way up to modern practices.

By modern practices, I do not mean pouring artificially flavored, colored, and preservative-laden high-fructose corn syrup onto your fresh-made stack of hotcakes. Pure maple syrup is an all-natural food, and it tastes better too! As an added bonus, pure maple syrup contains some important antioxidants and has a lower glycemic index than regular table sugar.

After participating in the program, visitors will have the knowledge needed to do sugaring on their own in their backyard – we even practice tapping a tree! This program is suitable for all ages. Weekday and weekend reservations are available, please call 717-642-5840 or email info@strawberryhill.org to book your group!