Spring is the Time for Maple Syrup

Bear with me!

Spring is the time to make Maple Syrup. Many people don’t realize that syrup comes from a maple tree. When the sun shines and daytime temps rise above freezing it is time to get ready to make syrup. This is when the sap starts to rise in the maple trees, and it is time to tap the trees. Trees are tapped with a drill and a bit to make a hole that a small plastic type of hose can fit in.

A bucket is attached to the tree to catch the sap. The sap is collected and taken to an area to be boiled down. It takes about 50 gallons of sap to make 1 gallon of syrup. Weather controls how well the sap runs. Trees don’t like wind and the sap flow is affected, rain is not good for sap flow and if the temperature doesn’t rise above freezing during the day, sap flows stops. The ideal day for the best sap flow is freezing at night and sunshine during the day.

Nothing is added to the sap while boiling. Maple syrup is 100% boiled down sap with no additives. There are many different methods of boiling down the sap. The method used is up to the syrup maker. I make syrup in Western Montana and people don’t know why there are buckets hanging from the trees. Most Montanans have never seen anyone making maple syrup. This area is not the best for making syrup, but it is my blood and I enjoy doing it.

I was raised in Northern Wisconsin and my grandparents had a maple grove on their farm and made syrup every spring. I enjoyed helping collecting sap and helping boil it down to syrup.