The month before maple syrup season is the perfect time to get everything ready before the whirlwind of tapping, collecting sap, and boiling it down for syrup. These are the top ten tips you’ll want to remember before maple syrup season begins.
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When preparing for the actual event of starting your small batch maple syrup operation, there are some big items, and smaller ones, that you’ll want to have ready for when the big day actually comes. In a nutshell, these are the top ten things you’ll want to do the month before you start making maple syrup.
- Identify your maple trees on your property
- Plow out a trail to your trees and/or create a reliable system to get the sap out of the woods
- Purchase or find your drill bit and make sure your drill battery is charged
- Check your taps for imperfections, replace any that are removed
- Be sure to have enough bags and buckets
- Clean and prepare your syrup cooking pan
- Cut or purchase firewood
- Find or purchase your hydrometer
- Purchase filters
- Purchase lids and jars, or prepare your jars by sanitizing for long term storage of syrup
Let’s dive in!
Table of Contents
- When is maple syrup season?
- How to identify maple trees on your property
- Create a reliable system to get the sap out of the woods
- Purchase or find your drill bit
- Prepare your taps, and purchase any new items you might need
- Clean and Prepare your Syrup Cooking Pan
- Cut or Purchase Firewood
- Find or purchase your hydrometer and filters
- Prepare and/or purchase your jars
- Top 10 Things to Do the Month Before Maple Syrup Season
- Save this for next year!
- Looking for more on maple syrup?
When is maple syrup season?
Maple syrup season starts when the maple trees begin sending their storage of sap up into the leaves of the trees to start the leaf growing process. This flow of sap begins when the nights are cold and below freezing, but the daytime temperatures rise above freezing. Generally, this will start to happen around the end of February and early March.
The trees will continue to send the sap up to their leaf buds, and maple sap will continue to be able to be harvested until the leaves begin to emerge. When this happens, the sap will become bitter and is no longer able to be used for maple syrup. Your last batch will usually be at the end of March and sometimes into early April.
There are three distinct stages of maple syrup making during the season. There is the early syrup, which is a beautiful golden color with a mild taste. This syrup is made in the very early part of the season, and then changes to the amber color. This syrup is rich and flavorful, a bit stronger than the golden flavor, but not overwhelmingly strong. At the end of the season, your syrup will turn a dark brown and will have a strong (but delicious!) flavor of maple.
How to identify maple trees on your property
Identifying maple trees is best done in the fall, when the leaves are still on the trees. But if you’re just deciding the month before maple syrup season that you’d like to tap maple trees to make into maple syrup, there is still hope!
Ferrin Brook Farm has a complete comprehensive overview on how to identify maple trees in winter that is really good. The basic overview is to look for trees that have opposite branching (meaning that the branches come out directly across from one another), and by eliminating other tree possibilities by studying the bark patterns.
With time and practice, you’ll start to recognize maple trees by sight. Until then, use trial and error to help you out- and that resource from Ferrin Brook Farm!
Create a reliable system to get the sap out of the woods
In the early days of maple syrup season, there is often a lot of snow, making it difficult to get around in the woods. This means that in the month before maple syrup season, you’re going to need to start thinking about making your way through the snowy woods to get to the trees and to get the sap out of the woods.
The most basic way to do this is to just walk around to the trees to form a path multiple times. You can drag a sled behind you, to pack down the trail even more. In larger operations, a plow might be necessary as well. You’re going to want to have easy access to your trees so that you can easily harvest the sap.
Purchase or find your drill bit
The size of the drill bit you use will depend on the types of taps you use for your trees. However, if you’re using a standard size spout, you will be able to use a 1/2 inch drill bit, or 7/16 inch will work as well. Smaller taps will require a 5/16 inch drill bit. Check your tap for specifics before drilling into your tree.
Make sure that you have your drill bit ready to go so you’re not wasting time buying one when you should be tapping trees.
Prepare your taps, and purchase any new items you might need
If you’re reusing your taps, you’ll want to make sure that they’re clean and ready to go for tapping day. Washing your taps and buckets in a hot, soapy bleach water solution is a safe and healthy practice before you begin collecting sap using these tools. You can create your own bleach water solution by adding 1 tablespoon of bleach to every one gallon of water.
You’ll also want to check your taps and make sure none are broken. If you need to purchase new taps or buckets, you’ll want to do that in the month before maple syrup season, as well as buy your new bags. If you are looking to collect your sap using bags, it is important to note that they are not reusable from year to year.
Clean and Prepare your Syrup Cooking Pan
Hopefully you have already cleaned out your syrup pan from the year before and this is a quick and easy step. Using a hot, soapy, bleach water solution, give your pan a quick cleaning before cooking any syrup. After a year of storage, I’m sure it will appreciate it!
Cut or Purchase Firewood
Even one small batch of maple syrup is going to take quite a bit of firewood. Having your firewood ahead of time, piled near the spot that you’re going to be cooking the syrup, is important.
For 25 gallons of finished maple syrup, you should expect to use at the very least a cord of firewood (about 700 pieces of firewood). You will need more or less wood depending on how much syrup you’re hoping to harvest for your family.
Find or purchase your hydrometer and filters
When it comes time to finishing the syrup, time is of the essence. You need to move fast to make sure you don’t overcook the syrup and to make sure your syrup is ready. There are 2 major tools you’ll want to have handy for the finishing process.
First thing you’ll need is a hydrometer. A hydrometer is a floating device that measures sugar levels ni liquids. This is a critical tool in determining when your syrup is done cooking. My grandpa made a handy little gadget that you can get a sample of syrup, place the hydrometer in, and test out the syrup easily. They make them commercially, too, and I’ll be sure to share a link to one below.
Next, you’ll want a filter. No matter if you filtered the sap before you cooked it, you’ll still want to filter the finished syrup to make sure that there aren’t specks of ash from the wood or an annoying fly who made it past the initial filtering phase. No one wants impure syrup! After your hydrometer has indicated that the syrup is ready, filter it and put it into jars. This is a bit of a lengthy process, as syrup is a slow moving substance. But, it’s a necessary one, so don’t skip it.
Prepare and/or purchase your jars
The last step is making sure you have jars ready so that you can store your beautiful syrup for the entire year. They make beautiful jars that you can use, especially if you’re going to be giving the syrup away to friends and family as gifts. We just use plain old mason jars, and find that quart jars are a nice size for our family. Whatever you’re planning to use, just be sure you have the jars (and lids!) ready to go the month before maple syrup season starts so there’s no stress during syrup time!
Before pouring your fresh syrup into your jars, you’ll want to make sure everything has been cleaned and sanitized (a dishwasher works great for this!) so that your syrup will last. Maple syrup can last indefinitely if stored and sealed properly. We have eaten 15 year old maple syrup and found it to be just as delicious as the day it was sealed!
Top 10 Things to Do the Month Before Maple Syrup Season
If you’ve followed all of these tips, you should be ready to go for the first day of maple syrup season. Preparedness is important; things can be much more stressful when you feel unprepared. Taking the time to follow each of these tips can help make the process smooth and enjoyable.
Save this for next year!
Looking for more on maple syrup?
Do you make maple syrup? What are your top tips for the month before maple syrup season?
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