Subject: How Much Syrup Can A Maple Tree Give?

From: [email-masked] (Elmer Eng)
Date: Wed, 29 Mar 1995 02:17:01 GMT

I have a 8-year old maple tree (about 30 ft high) in front of my house. 
The other day, I cut off some branches and found liquid coming out from
the cut branches.

My 10 year old was amazed to know that is how the maple syrup comes from
and wants to know if this tree can produce a bottle of syrup for his 
pancakes!

Any ideas?

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From: [email-masked] (Eric Howard)
Date: 29 Mar 1995 22:55:30 GMT

In article <[email-masked]> [email-masked] (Elmer Eng) writes:

> Newsgroups: rec.gardens
> From: [email-masked] (Elmer Eng)
> Reply-To: [email-masked] (Elmer Eng)
> Organization: The National Capital FreeNet
> Date: Wed, 29 Mar 1995 02:17:01 GMT
> 

A ten inch diameter tree can take 1 tap, a 20 inch, can take 2. Two
taps will provide about 40 gal of sap in a season. It takes 40 gal of
sap to produce 1 gal of syrup (that's why it's a bit pricy). You need
to collect the sap every day or it will spoil, and you can basically
cook it down all day to make syrup. Boil it until it reaches a boiling
temp of 219 degrees F. Any more than that and it will become maple
sugar candy. 

eric

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From: [email-masked]
Date: 29 Mar 95 17:21:00 -0600

> and wants to know if this tree can produce a bottle of syrup for his 

Well, it's a long process: you need to collect lots and lots and lots
of sap, then boil it down to increase the concentration of sugar, and
skim it to get some of the "yuck" off the top of the concentrate.  As
I recall, it's about 200 gallons of sap to 1 gallon of syrup, but
that varies with the concentration of sugar in the sap.

Acer saccharum is the classic maple for making syrup, but you can
do it with just about any maple, including boxelder, Acer negundo.
A chemist and I rotavapped down Acer negundo sap to maple syrup
consistency, and while it was sweet, it also had some distinctly
"off flavors": sort of boot-liners and turpentine...  ;-)

Kay Klier  [email-masked]

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From: [email-masked] (Eric Howard)
Date: 29 Mar 1995 22:55:30 GMT

eric

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From: [email-masked]
Date: 29 Mar 95 17:21:00 -0600

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From: [email-masked] (Allyn Weaks)
Date: Thu, 30 Mar 1995 19:40:14 -0800

> "off flavors": sort of boot-liners and turpentine...  ;-)

You can also do it with birch sap, though I've yet to taste it.  I hear
that it's somewhat insipid, but not bad.  Judging by the amount of vaguely
sweet stuff bleeding from a root I accidently sliced into the other day,
I'm tempted to put a tap or two in my paper birch next year; too late this
time around since it's already started to leaf out.

Have you tried freezing the maple sap before boiling?  Pre-european energy
conservation.  Freeze it (preferably outside during a good cold snap),
throw out the ice, then boil and skim the remainder.  Should save some on
the energy and labor bill, though I dunno if it would effect the flavor.
-- 
Allyn Weaks
[email-masked]

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From: [email-masked]
Date: 31 Mar 95 20:00:05 -0600

> time around since it's already started to leaf out.

I've had  "birch wine" made of fermented sap.  Eminently undrinkable,
imho.  Maybe sweetbirch's methyl salicylate would have improved it,
but it would surprise me...  ;-)
> the energy and labor bill, though I dunno if it would effect the flavor.

I believe that the temps around here (and probably in typical sugar bush
areas like New England) probably wouldn't get low enough to freeze 
solutions with significant amounts of sugars.  By the time the sap 
starts to rise, we're usually above 0oF.  The rotavap was easy and
fast for me, but they're not exactly common household equipment!  ;-)

Kay   [email-masked]

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From: [email-masked] (Patrick Burke)
Date: Tue, 4 Apr 1995 13:32:11 GMT

it takes 40 gallons of sap to make 1 gallon of syrup and lots of
time to boil it down to the syrup consistency.

Terry Ballantyne
Colorado
formerly of New Hampshire and have tried this.

And you don't want to do this indoors, wasteful of energy as this
seems.  Everything gets sticky.   Don't ask me how I know this.

Patrick Burke
Social Sciences Computing 
The University of Chicago

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From: Terry Ballantyne <[email-masked]>
Date: 3 Apr 1995 03:14:08 GMT

Terry Ballantyne 
Colorado

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From: [email-masked]
Date: 6 Apr 95 14:31:01 -0600

In article <[email-masked]>, [email-masked] (Allyn Weaks) writes:
> In article <[email-masked]>, [email-masked] wrote:
> 
> [much deleted]
> 
> Interesting.  A local(?) brewery here makes birch beer (non-alcoholic,
> like root beer) and it's fine.  Insipid, like modern ginger ale, but
> pleasant with no off flavors.  Maybe the root wood tastes different than
> the sap, or maybe it's a particular species.  Oh well, maybe I should go
> reassure my tree that I won't puncture it next year :-)
> 

I *think* birch beer is made like root beer: sugar syrup flavored with
barks and herbs.  The stuff I had was birch sap allowed to ferment.
Wild yeasts and bacteria and who knows quite what-all good things. ;-)

//snip//

>> The rotavap was easy and         
> I could probably hook up a roughing pump, but the clunkers I have easiest
> access to sometimes spit rather than suck...probably wouldn't help the
> flavor much!

Um!  Yum!  Pump oil!  :-P   How about a BIG trap flask in the line?

Kay

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From: [email-masked] (Patrick Burke)
Date: Tue, 4 Apr 1995 13:32:11 GMT

Terry Ballantyne
Colorado

Patrick Burke

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From: Terry Ballantyne <[email-masked]>
Date: 3 Apr 1995 03:14:08 GMT

Terry Ballantyne 
Colorado

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From: [email-masked]
Date: 6 Apr 95 14:31:01 -0600

//snip//

Kay

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From: [email-masked] (Patrick Burke)
Date: Tue, 4 Apr 1995 13:32:11 GMT

Terry Ballantyne
Colorado

Patrick Burke

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From: Terry Ballantyne <[email-masked]>
Date: 3 Apr 1995 03:14:08 GMT

Terry Ballantyne 
Colorado

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From: [email-masked]
Date: 6 Apr 95 14:31:01 -0600

//snip//

Kay

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From: [email-masked] (Allyn Weaks)
Date: Wed, 05 Apr 1995 18:48:59 -0800

[much deleted]

> solutions with significant amounts of sugars.By the time the sap 
> starts to rise, we're usually above 0oF.  

I should look up climate changes over the last few hundred years, since
freezing was the canonical way to do it.  The account I read mentioned
that some years wouldn't get cold enough, causing a sad lack of sweets,
but implied that that was the exception.

This is all reminding me that I'm almost out of good syrup.  Any favorite
suppliers?
-- 
Allyn Weaks
[email-masked]