Maple Syrup Recipe
Turn sap from a maple tree to healthy PURE maple syrup.
Equipment
2-4 2 gallon evaporator boiling pans
1 fire pit or outdoor burner
12 Taps, Tubing, and Buckets
1 Drill Bit
Ingredients
- 40 Gallons Maple Sap (Nature's gift, straight from the tree to your bucket.)
- Patience (Essential when you're standing over a boiling pot for hours. (Companion Optional))
Instructions
Harvesting Maple Sap
- Wait for that perfect late winter weather when days are above freezing and nights are below.
- Drill holes in your maple trees at a slight angle (about 10°) so that the sap will flow down the spile, and no more than 2" deep.
- Insert taps, connect tubing, and secure buckets. (The wind can blow empty buckets over, causing you to lose the future sap.)
- Collect sap daily. (Some days will produce a ton of sap, other days will produce less.)
Boiling Sap
- Boil the initial 4-8 gallons in evaporator pans (keeping the liquid level about 2-3" deep, and spread out along the bottom of the pan to increase evaporation)
- When sap evaporates to about half level, combine both pans into one, and resume boiling. (Both pans are hot and slightly concentrated, combining them will open a new pan for the next batch of sap.)
- Replace sap from empty pan with fresh sap from the taps. Bring to boil.
- When the pan with the combined first batch of sap evaporates to half level, top off with fresh boiling sap. Resume boiling.
- Repeat through the entire batch of maple tree sap. DO NOT OVERCOOK! 40 gallons of maple sap will yield about 1 gallon of maple syrup. Use hydrometer to determine thickness. (Real maple syrup will NOT be as thick as the imposter corn syrups!)
- Store maple syrup in refrigerator. Maple syrup will mold at room temperature.
- Bottle it up and label it. If you bottle it while its extremely hot, and use new mason jar lids (be sure to clean the brim of the jar first), your syrup will seal and stay fresh in your pantry. Once it is refrigerated, it should stay there.
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