However, the color also depends on temperatures, soil, snow, and other factors. One year in New Hampshire, we had a couple of warm spells, and the sap started to turn dark after only six sugaring sessions. As the season goes on, the sap gets cloudier, darker, stronger, and richer. In general, the sap is lighter earlier in the season when the sap is new, and it’s still cold outside with snow on the ground. There used to be a “Grade B,” but this is now called “Grade A: Very dark, strong taste.” The Maple Syrup Industry decided to develop uniform standards, replacing three different grading systems (Canadian, USDA, Vermont) so that the collectives would all be on the same page, no matter the state or country.įun Fact: The color does not reflect quality it reflects the taste of the maple syrup and, often, when the tree was sapped. Now, if you’ve never tasted “real” maple syrup, there’s no way to describe its fresh, complex flavor with its hints of caramel. High-quality maple syrup is called “Grade A” and comes in four color classifications: It may even have special benefits for men’s reproductive health. It’s an excellent source of manganese and a good source of zinc, which sweetens your antioxidant defenses, your heart, and your immune system.

Maple syrup contains fewer calories and a higher concentration of minerals than honey. Native Americans traditionally used maple syrup both as a food and as a medicine-and taught the age-old process of sugaring to the European colonists. Boil the sap to evaporate the water, producing a liquid with the characteristic flavor and color of maple syrup and a sugar content of 60 percent. The sap is clear and almost tasteless-and very low in sugar content.Hang a bucket on the spigot to collect the sap.Then, drive a metal sap spigot (available at hardware stores) into the hole, stopping short of the full distance of the hole.Drill 2 to 3 inches into the south side of the tree at a convenient height, making a hole 3/8- to 5/8-inch in diameter (larger holes for larger trees).There are many ways to tap trees to allow the sap to run out freely. Agriculture’s not for wimps! We weather the ups and downs.ĭo all trees produce sap? Yes, but it’s the sugar maple that has the highest content of sugar in the sap. What happens when it’s not the right temperature? Well, some seasons are good, some aren’t.

You need cold nights to make “sugarers” happy, so unseasonably warm winters aren’t good for the harvest. As spring nears, the sap thaws, and the sugar in the sap rises up the tree. Before winter, the maple trees store starch, which gets converted into sugar, in their trunks and roots. Nighttime temperatures must drop below freezing (in the 20s), and daytime temperatures must reach 40 to 50 degrees. Maple trees are tapped when temperatures alternate between freezing and thawing. If it’s a nice warm day, the syrup will keep flowing at a steady drip.

How quickly the sap buckets fill is based on the weather and how the sap is flowing, but it usually takes about 2 to 3 days to fill a bucket. How long does it take to fill a bucket with maple sap?Īssuming you start with a healthy maple tree, one tap will produce 6 to 10 gallons of sap. Once you taste it, you’ll never go back to that corn syrup “maple-flavored” confection sold in grocery stores. 5 Signs of Spring: Birds, Peepers, Tree Buds, and MoreĪs you can tell, that’s a lot of boiling off! This is why good-quality maple syrup isn’t cheap.

Do all maple trees produce syrup