Here’s How to Tap & Make Your Own Maple Syrup

Where to Tap Maple Syrup Trees?

Before you can get to tapping maple trees, you’re going to need to find yourself the right tree. Sugar Maples are the best, but you can also tap Black, Red, and Silver Maples. Check online or find a local expert to help with identification. If you have maple trees in your backyard you can get right to work. If not, you can ask permission from someone who does, or find a local sugar bush or maple syrup farm that’s open to the public. Keep in mind, you can’t tap trees on city or municipal property, or anywhere where you don’t have express permission.

How to Make Maple Syrup

Now that you’ve collected and stored your sap, it’s time to make maple syrup! It takes 40 parts maple sap to get 1 part maple syrup, so make sure you have enough sap to process or manage your yield expectations accordingly. Here’s what you’ll need and how to do it:

• Outside grill, cooker, fryer or a fire pit

• Large flat-bottomed pot

• Cooking gloves or BBQ gloves

• Smaller pot for finishing the syrup

• Food thermometer

• Maple syrup bottles or mason jars

1. Find a Heat Source: Because boiling sap produces a lot of steam that can damage your kitchen walls, it’s best to do most of the boiling outside. A fire pit is great but an outdoor grill, or fryer will also work.

2. First Boil: Fill your pot 3/4 full of sap and place it over your heat source. Let the sap boil about halfway down the depth of the pot before adding more sap. Tip: get another pot going so you can preheat your cold sap before adding—this helps to keep your sap at the boiling point.

3. Second Boil: Once the sap has taken on a golden colour, you can transfer it to a smaller pot to finish off indoors. At this point, you’re boiling the golden sap down into syrup.

4. Syrup Check: The easiest way to test if you’ve got syrup yet is to dip a spoon into the boiling sap and watch how it drips. If the sap comes off in droplets it still needs to boil more; if it comes off in a sheet or a stream you should have syrup! Take the pot off the heat to cool and confirm the final thickness and taste is indeed syrup. Alternatively, you can use a food thermometer to check the sap. Once it reaches 3.94°C above the boiling point of water, you have maple syrup.

5. Filter the Syrup: There will likely be a bit of sediment in your syrup. You can filter the cooled maple syrup through a food grade filter or a coffee filter if you’re willing to work in smaller batches. Press the syrup through the filter into a clean container. Repeat batch by batch, using a new filter each time. You can also let the syrup sit overnight in the fridge to allow the sediment to settle to the bottom.

6. Bottle the Syrup: Sterilize your bottles and caps in boiling water then pour the syrup into the bottles, cap them, and refrigerate. For long term storage, you can pour your syrup into sterilized mason jars and process them in a water bath canner.

Tapping maple trees to make maple syrup is fun and educational. Making your own maple syrup from the sap is an even sweeter reward. All it takes a small investment in gear and supplies, and you’ll be ready for maple syrup season every winter.