The production of maple syrup and maple sugar is purely an American industry, Canada being the only country outside of the United States where they are made. The earliest explorers in this country found the Native Americans making sugar from maple trees, and in some sections producing it in quantity for trade. The settlers began to make maple products as well and to attempt to improve their manufacture. For many years, maple sugar was the only sugar used and, despite refinements, beyond the tapping and boiling, the general process remains the same as at that time.
All the maples have sweet sap, but only from a few of the species has sugar been made in worthwhile quantities. The first place is held by the sugar maple and a variety of it—the black maple. These can be found in the Northeastern region of the United States, as well as the northern Midwest. Other varieties, including the red maple, the silver maple, and the Oregon maple, can be tapped, but will produce smaller quantities of syrup. It takes approximately 40 gallons of sap to make 1 gallon of syrup, so it is generally not worthwhile to tap the less productive tree varieties.
The quantity of sap that a tree yields stands in direct relation to the size of its crown. It is good to make it a rule to tap only one place on a tree; by doing so the life of the tree is prolonged. Large trees might be tapped in two and sometimes three places without injury, but not in two places so near together that the sap from the two is collected in one bucket. Each hole should heal over in as quickly as one season.
Before tapping, the side of the tree should be brushed with a stiff broom to remove all loose bark and dirt and a spot selected where the bark looks healthy, some distance from the scar of a previous tapping. Care should also be taken to tap where a bucket attached to the spout inserted in the hole will hang level and be partly supported by the tree itself. The distance from the ground should be about waist high, convenient for the sap collector. In general, it is best to tap on the side of the tree where other trees do not shade the spot. The main requisite in tapping a tree is a good sharp bit with which a clean-cut hole can be made. A rough, feathered hole soon becomes foul, stopping the flow. After the tapping, all shavings should be removed to make the hole clean. The bark should never be cut away before boring the hole, as this shortens the life of the tree.
General practice concerning the size of the hole seems to indicate that three-eighths to half an inch is the best diameter; then, if the season is long and a warm spell interrupts the flow, the holes can be reamed out to ½ to 5/8 of an inch, and thereby secure an increased run. A 13/32 of an inch bit is often used. The bit should be especially sharp and should bring the shavings to the surface. Its direction is slightly upward into the tree. The slant allows the hole to drain readily.
The depth of the hole should be regulated by the size of the tree, as only the layers next to the bark are alive and contain enough sap to flow freely. Toward the interior, the flow diminishes. With the ordinary tree a hole less than 1½ to 2 inches deep is best. In small trees, make a short incision just through the sap-wood. In any case, boring should be stopped when dark colored shavings appear, as this shows dead wood and that the sapwood has been passed through. It is good policy to tap early in the season in order to obtain the earlier runs, which are generally the sweetest. “Sugar weather” begins sometime between mid-February to mid-March, when the days are becoming warm, the temperature going above 32°F, and the nights are still frosty.
The spout, or spile, is the tube through which the sap flows into the bucket. It is usually of metal, but hollow reeds are sometimes used. The best are perfectly cylindrical and of an even taper, making them easy to insert and to remove without interfering with the wood tissue. The perfect spout should be strong enough to support the bucket of sap safely, and for obvious reasons should bring the whole weight on the bark of the tree and not on the inner tissue or sapwood. A spout should have a hook or stop on which the bucket is to hang, unless the bucket may hang on the spout itself, and it is best to have a spout with a small hole, because one with a large hole allows the bore to dry out faster when there are strong winds. Buckets are typically of galvanized metal (free from corrosion or rust, covered, and fitting well to the tree). Sometimes old plastic one-gallon milk cartons are used, since their narrow neck prevents debris from entering. Make sure to clean any container thoroughly before use.
The sap should be collected each day and not be allowed to accumulate. It is also necessary to keep the buckets and containers clean, and they should be washed in warm water after each run. So long as it is cold, you may store the sap outdoors for up to three days in any large metal or plastic container. When pouring the sap into its collecting device, stretch a flannel cloth over the top of the tanks and pour the sap through this to remove any twigs, leaves, or pieces of dirt.
Once you have enough sap to start making syrup, you may start to boil it down. Use any outdoor method, from bonfire to coal-burning range, camp stove to commercial evaporator, but avoid boiling sap inside, as it results in a sticky residue on your walls.
Use two pans, one to evaporate excess moisture from the sap and concentrate it into syrup, and one as a finishing pan, in which you will finish boiling it. The evaporator should have a large bottom surface area, and the sap should not be deeper than 1 to 1½ inches in the pan at any time. The size of the pan depends on how much sugaring you intend to do—it is best if it can hold at least one gallon. Put in an inch or two of sap, boil, and add more, a little at a time, so as not to stop boiling or materially change the density of the boiling liquid; then, when this charge is concentrated, or has reached approximately 6 degrees above the temperature at which water boils (use a candy thermometer to monitor it), the syrup should be drawn off. Care must be exercised not to allow the remaining syrup in the pan to be burned. While evaporating, use a kitchen strainer to skim off the froth, and keep a spoon for stirring on hand.
To finish the syrup, pour it through a piece of felt cloth, or two pieces of thick flannel, into the finishing pot. Once the syrup has reached 7 degrees above the boiling point of water, it is ready for storage.
Glass containers are the best method for keeping syrup, although airtight plastic and metal containers will also work. When carefully canned, syrup will keep from one season to another without souring or bursting the jar. It is best to store syrup immediately after finishing, while still hot, and then keep at an even, cold temperature. Temperatures around freezing, however, should not be used, as this may crystallize the syrup.
“Sugaring-off” applies to the further treatment of the maple syrup by which it is made into a solid product. The ordinary iron pot of the kitchen is filled nearly half full with the syrup and this is concentrated over the fire. Use a candy thermometer to determine the proper point of stopping the boiling. In the first runs of sap, the boiling should be carried up to 26 to 28 degrees above the boiling point of water at that elevation to make a medium hard sugar. With later runs, the finishing temperature should be 28 to 38 degrees above the boiling point. After the thick syrup has reached the proper boiling point, it should be taken from the fire and stirred until somewhat cooled. This gives it a uniform grain and color in the mold. As in syrup making, one should “sugar-off” a charge before adding any more syrup. The hardness of the sugar produced is to a large extent controlled by its moisture content. High temperatures are required to evaporate more of the water, but note that for softer sugars, you should use slightly lower temperatures.
Like brown sugar, maple sugar does not keep well in a moist atmosphere. It tends to absorb water, molds rather quickly, and if finished at too low a temperature, the sugar is soft and the liquid portion drains out. Therefore sugar which is to be stored should always be boiled to a high temperature. It can be wrapped in paper, but should not be put in covered containers unless these are absolutely sealed. It is best to store the sugar in a warm room of even temperature. If the cakes are sealed without access to air, a cold place can be used, but make sure they are kept dry.
