Make Your Own Maple Syrup
Ah, maple syrup! Who doesn’t love that sweet amber goodness. Goes on almost everything too. Between pancakes and fried chicken, what is not to love? It is also a great sweetener in your recipes.
I have been making my own maple syrup for a few years now. Started as a fun hobby that now supplies our family with enough syrup for the year. One of my favorite things about maple syrup is how easy it is to do yourself. Admittedly, it is not a cost effective food item to do yourself. It takes a bit of sap to yield syrup. A 40:1 gallon ratio to be exact. But, it's a great activity to get everyone involved in. The kids are great with drilling holes for the spiles (doesn’t require much convincing when power tools are involved), setting up the collection containers, check sap levels, or even taste testers.
First, a brief education moment about maple syrup. Maple syrup is boiled down maple tree sap. That’s it. In the fall, the tree stores starch in its roots, and as spring nears, the starch changes to sugar, which then gets mixed with water in the tree to form sap. The sap will travel up the tree as a flow. This process only happens when temperatures are freezing at night and warm above freezing during the day. Which is why maple syrup is predominantly produced in Northeast America and Canada in late February / early March.
You may have noticed too that maple syrup comes in different shades of golden, amber, and dark. The color is a result of how the sap interacts with bacteria and yeast outside the tree. Without getting too in the weeds here, the important thing to remember is that the first sap of the tree is usually the golden color, which turns dark as the season goes on. While that golden color is oh so nice in those maple leaf shaped bottles, the darker color syrup has a richer maple flavor.
Now let’s talk how you can do this yourself. I think it seems complicated because you use phrases like ‘I made maple syrup’ or that it’s so sweet you must have to do something to it to get the taste and consistency. Maple syrup is only boiled down tree sap. That’s it. No added anything. How fantastic is that.
Equipment Needed:
Drill & Drill Bit (should be the same size as your spile)
Tree Spiles (this is like a spigot that goes into the tree to flow out)
Collecting container such as a bucket or bag. We use food grade buckets we bought off facebook marketplace. Many restaurants have these as well you may be able to collect. I think these are a great option. Make sure there’s a lid to protect the collected sap.
Tubes (for the sap to flow in your container)
Filter (they sell maple syrup specific ones)
Here are the steps:
Find a maple tree. It’s easier to pick out and tag a tree while the tree still has it’s leaves since their leaves have that distinctive pointed hand look.
Using the drill bit, drill a hole into the tree. This part my kids love doing.
Insert your spile (only 1-3 spiles per tree, depending on size)
Connect your hose to your collection container
Watch your containers fill up with sap
With enough sap, it is time to boil!
Boil the sap until it reaches 219F degrees.
Run the syrup through the filter.
Store.
That’s it! You have made your first maple syrup.
Besides using maple syrup as a topping on my waffles (I’m a waffle girl), I like using maple syrup as a substitute for granulated sugar. I was on a search for new, quick, and easy breakfast items and found this copycat Little Bites recipe from YummyToddlerFood. Beware though, if this is your first time making little muffins, you will realize how amazing little bite foods are and start making other foods in smaller portion size. We have also done brownies and corn muffins. They are a hit!
Recipe is found here: https://www.yummytoddlerfood.com/chocolate-chip-mini-muffins-copycat-little-bites/
