“Fun Facts from Joe”
Sap is mostly water, approximately 2 to 3% sugar and is boiled down to 67% sugar to make maple syrup.
If sap has 2 1/2% sugar content it will take 42 gallons to make 1 gallon of syrup.
Sugar content in syrup is measured with a hydrometer. If sap is boiled too much it will crystallize, if not boiled enough it will not last long. The best way to keep syrup is in refrigerator.
I tap approximately 900 trees with 1,000 taps, some large trees get 2 taps. I don't over-tap. I don't want to damage the trees. We only take a small percentage of the sap.
We don't use a vacuum to suck sap from the trees. The sap drips out of the tree a drop at a time, it takes approx. 46, 080 drops to make 1 gallon of sap.
During a sap “Run" sap can drip from 5 to 100 drops a minute. Sap drips only when the days are above freezing and the nights are below freezing.
To tap the trees we drill a small hole in the tree 5/16 in. in diameter 11/2 in. deep, then insert a tap "spile" which is attached to tubing that brings the sap to the sugar shack for processing. We have approx. 21/2 miles of tubing in our 50-acre sugarbush.
The tapped tree produces sap only 4 to 6 weeks before the hole closes up.
In 2011, we collected 3,500 gal. of sap about 4 gallons from each tree and made 75 gal. of syrup. Every year is different.
We filter our syrup after boiling with cloth filters not Diatomaceous earth.
We collect sap from Sugar Maple trees on our farm in the Shawangunk Mountains ( The Gunks ) in Ulster County New York.
The wood we burn in our evaporator comes from thinning our forest. We do not use oil. We use 9 cords of wood to produce 75 gal. of maple syrup. One cord measures 4ft. high 4ft. wide 8ft. long.
Sap is mostly water, approximately 2 to 3% sugar and is boiled down to 67% sugar to make maple syrup.
If sap has 2 1/2% sugar content it will take 42 gallons to make 1 gallon of syrup.
Sugar content in syrup is measured with a hydrometer. If sap is boiled too much it will crystallize, if not boiled enough it will not last long. The best way to keep syrup is in refrigerator.
I tap approximately 900 trees with 1,000 taps, some large trees get 2 taps. I don't over-tap. I don't want to damage the trees. We only take a small percentage of the sap.
We don't use a vacuum to suck sap from the trees. The sap drips out of the tree a drop at a time, it takes approx. 46, 080 drops to make 1 gallon of sap.
During a sap “Run" sap can drip from 5 to 100 drops a minute. Sap drips only when the days are above freezing and the nights are below freezing.
To tap the trees we drill a small hole in the tree 5/16 in. in diameter 11/2 in. deep, then insert a tap "spile" which is attached to tubing that brings the sap to the sugar shack for processing. We have approx. 21/2 miles of tubing in our 50-acre sugarbush.
The tapped tree produces sap only 4 to 6 weeks before the hole closes up.
In 2011, we collected 3,500 gal. of sap about 4 gallons from each tree and made 75 gal. of syrup. Every year is different.
We filter our syrup after boiling with cloth filters not Diatomaceous earth.
We collect sap from Sugar Maple trees on our farm in the Shawangunk Mountains ( The Gunks ) in Ulster County New York.
The wood we burn in our evaporator comes from thinning our forest. We do not use oil. We use 9 cords of wood to produce 75 gal. of maple syrup. One cord measures 4ft. high 4ft. wide 8ft. long.