We have another syrup making thread going on here further down the board. I explained some of my techniques for doing so on that one.

I think that it is considered safe for the tree to space taps about every 12 to 16 inches around the circumference of the tree. I know that I have been tapping the fairly large silver maple in my front yard for many years now with no ill effects at all. The holes heal over and fill in in one to two growing seasons. I can't really tell you the circumference, but I'd estimate that the tree is probably 3 feet in diameter at chest level. I usually put in 3 or 4 taps each season. Taps on the south and southwest side of the tree give you the best yield of sap, by the way, because the sun warms those sides the most, but you can tap all the way around if you wish.

You can easily make your own taps, nothing to it -- one method is to use the hollowed out stems of either staghorn sumac or elderberry bushes. Both of these stems are essentially hollow except for some soft, spongy pith in the middle which you can poke out easily with a big nail or knitting needle.

Or, you can take pieces of dowel about six inches long and just hollow them out with a drill. Usually, you would use probably 1 to 1.5 inch diameter dowels. Heck, I've even used old broom handles (cleaned and paint sanded off, of course).

Milk jugs or cheap utility buckets (2 to 3 gallon size, like the ones at the dollar stores) are just fine for collection containers. The only bad thing about milk jugs is that they fill up awfully fast on a warmer, sunny day, so you might have to empty them every 2 or 3 hours.

Now, just FYI, you should do most of the boiling down outdoors, or you'll steam up your house so much that it will peel the wallpaper from the walls. I boil it down about 90% of the way outdoors, and just finish it off indoors on the stove, where it's easier to control the heat and pay more attention to it.

This is a very good project for your grandchildren. With the way things are going here in Michigan and around the world with the economy, and with the progressively more gloomy news day by day, it's a very good thing to know how to make some of your own food.

Dennis
SE Michigan

Thanks I did find the other thread a couple pages back and found some great information. I think this sounds like something we are going to do. Dennis if I remember right you live fairly close to me here in Michigan...I'm in Warren...when is it a good time to place the taps? Kim

Yes, Kim, I'm very close to you. I live in West Blooomfield, and I work in Troy across the street from Somerset Mall.

Timing varies a little bit depending upon the weather. I know at Cranbrook they start tapping by late February, so I guess you could do it anytime, really. I usually do mine around the middle of March. I find that I can get all of the sap I could ever possibly process in about a weeks worth of gathering, ten days tops. The sap will run nicely until about the 10th of April most years, give or take a few days.

The earlier you gather the sap, the lighter in color and lighter in flavor the syrup will be. I prefer the syrup made in the middle of the sap run, it's the most balanced, medium color and good flavor. Sap made at the very end of the sap run is often very dark and can be quite strong in flavor%2

Here are a few links I've found:

From a website about a Maple Festival in upstate New York:

http://maplefest.schoharie.net/MakingMapleSyrup.htm

From the University of Maine Cooperative Extension Service:

http://www.umext.maine.edu/onlinepubs/pdfpubs/7036.pdf

Homeowner instructions from the Michigan Maple Syrup Association:

http://www.mi-maplesyrup.com/Activities/activities_homemade.htm

Hi! Do you think I could do this with the hickory trees on my place here in Indiana? I would like to try it if I could make my own taps. Do you cover the collecting buckets except for where the taps drain into them? Someone is marketing Shagbark Hickory Syrup from the area I live in, but I'd like to try it once just for the experience.

I haven't tried hickory or walnut yet, but I've heard that both make good syrup. I don't see any reason NOT to try it.

Yes, personally, I DO like to cover my buckets -- helps keep out things you don't want in there, like ants, tree bark, even bird poo! I often just tie a big sheet of clear plastic around the tree and let it drape down over the entire rig. Just make sure it doesn't touch the tap, or the sap will run down the plastic onto the ground instead of dripping into the bucket.

bcskye,
Yes, you can tap hickories - and walnuts, too for that matter; there was an article published in the Proceedings of the Northern Nut Growers Assn annual meeting several years back, where they'd done just that - and the black walnut syrup came out pretty well-received in taste tests(IIRC, it beat out maple syrup). The only potential drawback I can see for you is that weather conditions in your area may not foster the sort of 'sap run' that folks farther north of you get(or, I may be totally wrong in this theory.).

I'll hazard a guess that the shagbark hickory syrup you're seeing is made by boiling strips of bark peeled off the trees, straining that liquor, adding sugar, and boiling it down further. It's a well-known(well, at least in the nutgrowers circle I run in) procedure - and I've made hickory syrup in that manner, using shagbark/shellbark nut fragments left over after cracking and picking, whole cracked mockernut hickory nuts, and nice clean mockernut husks. I just couldn't get past the thought of all the lichens, bug frass, and poison ivy rootlets that might be present on strips of exfoliating shagbark bark and what off-flavors they might impart.

Lucky -- really, boiling bark and making a syrup from it? How does it taste? How much bark would I need (I have a couple of trees, but don't want to hurt them)?

This I've got to try. No poison ivy in the yard, I'm not afraid of lichens or bugs (their frass might be a bit gross, though, but I'm sure you'd wash the bark thoroughly before cooking it).

Details, please -- how much bark, how much water, how long to boil, etc. Thanks!

Dennis
SE Michigan

Kim -- based upon the weather forecast I saw for our area this upcoming week, it would be a good time to tap your trees. They are saying upper 40s next weekend.

i taped some trees once. First thing to do is make sure they are the proper type of maple, easiest will be to research online to find images of bark and compare.

As far as a tap and collection. I used a cordless drill, drilled a hole that was just a little smaller than some flexible clear tubing a few inches deep, put a small slice in the first bit of tubing on one end to make it easier to jam into the hole (probably into the hole just a little over 1/4 inch, put a screw in the tree just above the hole to hang a plastic milk jug on a string from, and then routed the tubing into the milk jug. Worked great and removal was as simple as backing the screw out and yanking the plastic tube out.

Hope that helps.

Thanks for all the great information. Looks like I will be tapping with my granddaughter on Tuesday or Wednesday. Hopefully we will start running soon....I am so wanting this winter to be over!!! Kim

Yeah, really, Dennis. Bark. That's what they do.
How much? I dunno for sure, as I've not used bark - but that's what a number of folks do, on a commercial basis.

What I do, is, I save all the nutshell fragments when I'm cracking & picking out a bunch of shagbark/shellbark hickories, and when I've got a 1-gallon ice cream tub full of 'em, I'll dump 'em in a pot, add enough water to cover 'em, and cook 'em all day - adding water as necessary. Sometimes I'll toss in some mockernut hickory nuts - husk and all.
Then, I'll scoop out the nutshells, strain the 'liquor', add about 2 cups sugar to each cup of fluid, and cook down until it reaches the consistency I want; pour off into canning jars and seal.

Smells/tastes somewhat like maple syrup - only better. Biggest problem I have with it is sugar crystallizing out in the jars sometimes after it cools. No preservatives, so you either have to use it up quickly or refrigerate after opening - it will ferment some and 'go off'.

Hi luckyp,
I tried your hickory nut recipe last night and it turned out very nice. I had some nuts that were husked and dried but not cracked yet. They were about 2 years old that I had kept since I picked so many that year. I cracked a couple cups worth of nuts and through it all in a pot (shells & meat) and covered with water. I boiled it for about 30 minutes and it produced a dark golden liquid, almost brown actually. I filtered the liquied and added the sugar and boiled it some more until it thickened. The syrup was very rich and had a strong hickory flavour. I might try again and not boil it as long to produce a milder flavour.

Thanks to the help from you all, my granddaughter and I tapped a couple maple trees today and were able to gather just under a gallon of sap today. I put a couple pictures on my blog if you would like to check it out.

Here is a link that might be useful: My blog

I wish I could do that also because I love exploring new things and besides, maple syrup is a great one because of its number of uses and health benefits. It's just sad to admit that it's very expensive specially the pure, real maple syrup. The cost of this syrup can go as high as $100 per gallon. This fact actually lead a man to be charged with fraud after attempting to industry flavored cane syrup as "real" maple syrup. The Food and drug administration and state DOA in Vermont both tested samples of an item promoted as "real" maple syrup. The item, however, turned out to be sugar syrup. The incident pushed some to be very careful in purchasing the product and in fact, it is now being worked in the senate as initiated by Senator Leahy trying to strengthen maple syrup law. This law, if approved, would be of great help for the consumers to get rid of fake maple syrup in the market because it would strengthen protections for the brand of Vermont maple syrup.