We have one black maple and three sugar maples in our lawn. The black maple was purchased from a local nursery here in West Central Minnesota, with the understanding it was a "green mountain" sugar maple. As it was the first maple we had ever planted, we didn't realize that it was different from typical sugar maples until 20 years later when we decided to plant some more sugar maples. Now, 15 years after the sugar maples were planted, we can clearly see the difference between the two species (some experts prefer to call black maple a subspecies of sugar maple). The black maple has much larger leaves that are rather leathery and always look drooped. Initially, we thought that the droopiness was due to its location in a full sun, rather windy spot. But, after 35 years, the droopy leaves are always like that, and they are always leathery too. The large leaf size always receives comments from visitors. Fall coloration probably isn't all that much different than our sugar maples, but I feel the colors have more punch/vividness to them. Also, the leaves hang on much longer than on the sugar maples, having begun to change color at least one week before the sugar maples, and keeping it at least a week longer as well. It is worth noting that the black maple begins to turn color rather slowly and progresses throughout the tree over a span of about 4 weeks. As I write this in mid-October, there are still some green leaves on the north side of the tree's crown, while the vibrant reds and oranges that first appeared on the south side have now been blown off the tree in the past 3 days when 30+ mph winds came through. All of our sugar maples were purchased with the "Green Mountain" tag affixed to them. They have smaller leaves and all seem to turn color about the same time, and rather quickly at that, from green to full orange color in about a week's time. The sugar maples we have have grown much more rapidly than the black maple. The first 10-15 years, the black maple grew very slowly on our yellow clay, well drained soil. After 15 years, it seemed to pick up the pace somewhat, perhaps due to having a well established root system. Then again, it may simply be characteristic of black maple to grow slowly. We have wanted to intentionally purchase another black maple or two to grace some added space we have in our lawn. However, no nurseries have been found that offer it. Strange, as the black maple is an outstanding shade tree! What I have reported is based only on our personal experience with one specimen. Maybe others with black maples would care to offer some of their experiences to this thread as well. DarylJ

We just tapped our silver maple. It's probably a little early here in Minneapolis, but we'd rather do it too soon then too late, since it's such a short sap season. You can see pics of ours at http://theurbanhomestaed.blogspot.com/2011/02/how-to-make-maple-syrup-in-your-own.html We plan on using an outdoor cooking campfire type thing that uses an open fire pit too cook it down. Has anyone tried anything like this?

Yes, I've made maple syrup various ways and tapped trees. You can probably find lots of good info for tapping and processing large amounts of sap online. I'd prefer to give you an at home way to process the sap using common cookware. It is really only to get an idea of what is involved, not a good way to make much syrup. One relatively easy way to process a small amount of syrup is with a deep electric fryer or roaster. Fill it with six inches of sap and cook it outside until only 1 inch is left. At times it will bubble up so don't overfill. It takes a long time. Pour out the concentrated sap and cook more batches. When you have several batches of concentrate you combine them and cook them down even more. Since most sap needs to reduced to about 1/40th its original volume to get syrup, this will take ALOT of time and ALOT of sap. Doing alot of the boiling out on my deck keeps the moisture out of my house. To finish up the syrup, do your final cooking inside. You want to evaporate until the syrup temperature is 7 degrees above boiling....219 F in many places...but not all, depending on altitude and barometric pressure that day. A candy thermometer from Target or elsewhere works okay. After awhile you can gauge how your syrup is doing by eye, but for the first several batches you will want to watch a good thermometer carefully. And remember, at times it will bubble or foam up. (As the sugar content increases, so does the boiling point.) This method used equipment many people have around and gives you a chance to try the process without having to buy anything too unusual or costly. It is only good to make a small amount of syrup. If you want to process large amounts of sap you would want an evaporator pan and a wood fire. Cooking with electric or gas would get costly. Realise that producing only 1 cup of syrup will require almost 3 gallons of sugar maple sap to be concentrated down. That is ALOT of steam. If you tap red maples it will take even more sap since their sap contains even less sugar. Maple syrup time is wonderful. I love most everything about it.

Nancy, here's a good bread recipe that uses a lot more than a couple of tablespoons of maple syrup. I love it, and the coffee does not add a discernable coffee flavor but it does add a nice "secret ingredient" flavor. MAPLE OATMEAL BREAD 3 3 ¼ cups flour 1 pkg dry yeast ¾ cup prepared coffee 1/2 cup quick cooking rolled oats ½ (scant) cup maple syrup 2 tbls butter 1 tsp salt 1 egg Combine a cup of flour and the yeast. Heat coffee, oats, syrup, butter and salt until just warm and butter is almost melted. Add to flour mixture along with egg. Beat with electric mixer on low for 30 seconds. Beat on high speed for 3 minutes. Using a wooden spoon, stir in as much of the remaining flour as you can. Turn dough out onto lightly floured surface, knead in enough remaining flour to make a moderately soft dough that is smooth and elastic (3-5 minutes kneading). Shape dough into a ball, place in lightly greased bowl, and turn over once to grease surface of dough. Cover and let rise in a warm place until double in size, about an hour. Punch down dough, cover and let rest 10 minutes. Meanwhile lightly grease a 9x5x3 inch loaf pan. Shape dough into a loaf and place into prepared pan, cover and let rise in a warm place until nearly double in size (30 to 45 minutes). Bake at 350 F about 30 minutes or until bread sounds hollow when lightly tapped. Remove from pan immediately and cool on wire rack. Makes 1 loaf (14 slices) Each slice contains 149 calories, 3 grams total fat, 2 grams sat. fat, 1 gr fiber, 26 gr. Carbs, 196 mg sodium, 4 gr protein. (Contains 8% of daily requirement of iron) And here's a really nice maple scone... Maple Cream Scone 2 cups all-purpose or unbleached flour 1 tablespoon baking powder 3/4 teaspoon salt 4 tablespoons cold butter, cut into 1/4-inch pieces, plus 2 tablespoons butter, melted 3/4 cup heavy cream 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons pure maple syrup 1. Preheat oven to 425 F. Lightly grease a baking sheet (I used silpat on the baking sheet). 2. Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. Cut the butter pieces into the flour until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Make a well in the mixture. 3. Blend the cream and 1/4 cup of the maple syrup and pour the mixture into the well. Stir, just until the dough coheres. 4. Lightly flour a work surface; turn the dough onto the surface and knead four or five times, gently. Pat or roll to a thickness of about 3/4 inch. Cut into 2-1/2-inch to 3-inch rounds with a biscuit cutter and place on the prepared baking sheet. 5. Stir together the melted butter and remaining 2 tablespoons maple syrup, then brush a little on each scone. Keep the remaining syrup mixture warm. Bake the scones for about 15 minutes, until golden. Serve hot. Spoon the remaining warm syrup mixture over the scones. Yield: About 12 scones. Source: Maple Syrup Cookbook, copyright 1989, 2001 Mmmmm, love maple syrup. Like other kids, Ashley'd rather have Mrs. Butterworth. Have I mentioned that she's a heathen when it comes to food, LOL? Annie