"Wait...you cant make maple syrup in Middle Tennessee...it's not cold enough."
Oh, but it is. There is nothing like homemade maple syrup from your own trees. Not only does it have an awesome flavor, but making it is a very enjoyable, easy process.
Where to start?
Identifying the trees is as good a place as any. Sugar maples, silver maples, and red maples may all be tapped as long as they are at least 1.5 feet in diameter. Sugar maples are ideal because their sap contains the highest concentration of sugar. Yeah, I know, right? The higher sugar content, the less it has to be boiled down.
When to tap:
We tap our trees in February and collect sap until early March. Maple sap flows after a hard freeze, followed by a temperature swing up into the 40 degree range. The sap flow will cease when the temperature does not rise above freezing during the day or drop below freezing at night.
Equipment:
- 1/2" aluminum conduit
- angle grinder or hacksaw
- 5gal. buckets with lids
- nails
- hammer
- 5/8" auger bit
- cordless drill
Use an angle grinder (or hacksaw) to cut the 1/2" conduit into 5" lengths. These are called spiels.
Using a 5/8" drill bit, drill a hole in the top of the buckets.
Drill a hole 1.5-2" inches into the tree using a 5/8" auger bit,
. The hole should be bored about 4 feet above the ground and at a slight upward angle .
Insert a spiel into the hole and tap it in at least 1" making sure it is a very snug fit. If it is too loose, the sap will leak out around the spiel and not be collected in the bucket, but if it is too tight, it will split the tree.
Push the hole in the bucket over the spiel. Then drive a nail into the tree for the handle of the bucket to hang upon.
If the tree is larger than 24" in diameter, it can support 2 taps.
Voila! Now the sap will drip into the buckets and be ready for collection and evaporation.
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