From Sap to Syrup: An Odyssey

CRESCO - Lynda Hovey likes to experiment. She’s always on the lookout for a fun project for her kids, something to teach them about the world around them. This year, that project was syrup. 
From a tree.
In their back yard.
 Since neither Lynda nor her husband, Casey, had never made syrup before, they decided to look up some videos on YouTube to get them started. “Those YouTube videos really help,” she said. “They are so helpful when you have questions. And there are a lot of them.” 
The Hoveys also decided to follow Greens’ Sugar Bush, a syrup maker in Winneshiek county, on Facebook just to see what the experts were doing, and when.
Once they felt informed enough to begin, the first step in the journey was supplies. Fisk Farm and Home had everything they needed: tree taps (which are also called “spiles”), five gallon buckets with lids and hose to run from the spiles into the buckets.
Step two was finding the trees. It takes approximately 40 years for a maple tree to grow to a tappable size. Measuring from the ground up, at between four and five feet, the tree should be at least ten inches in diameter. Experts recommend tapping the tree above a large root or below a large branch for best flow.
The Hoveys picked two trees to tap and drilled holes to place the spiles. For standard spiles, the hole should be 7/16 of an inch and approximately two inches deep, including the bark. 
Sugaring season varies from year to year, but usually runs approximately 4-6 weeks, from as early as mid-February to as late as April. The important aspect to consider is temperatures. Days should be above freezing with nights below freezing to get the best flow. Once nights warm up and trees start to bud, sugaring season is over.
“We tapped the trees while they were still frozen so we didn’t miss the flow when it started,” Lynda said. They got most of their sap around mid-April.
In order to make syrup from sap, you boil off the water to increase the sugar content of what’s left behind. There are no additives or extra ingredients: just sap. But since the sap is only about 2% sugar and syrup is between 65% to 67% sugar, you need approximately 40 gallons of sap to make one gallon of syrup. That number can vary significantly, depending on the time of sugar season you collect, as well as the sugar content of individual trees. Sometimes it runs as low as 20 gallons; or, later in the season, it can go as high as 60 gallons to yield that same gallon of syrup.
The first batch of sap the Hoveys collected was 10 gallons. Following their YouTube instructions carefully, they boiled the sap outdoors to reduce it to syrup and found … it took forever. They boiled and boiled and boiled. And boiled some more. Finally, when it was close to ready, things started going really fast. So fast, in fact, that the sap burned between one check and the next. After all that time, the whole batch was ruined and had to be tossed.
Not to be dissuaded, the Hoveys went back to work gathering more sap. It took about three days to refill their buckets to six gallons. After critiquing their first try, they decided perhaps the aluminum pot they used was the culprit, so they opted for stainless steel in round two. 
It was a good choice.
“The stainless steel pan went faster and seemed to regulate the heat more,” Lynda said. It took them approximately six hours of boiling this time, and when things got close, they were prepared for how quickly it would turn. Watching the pan like a hawk, they pulled the syrup off the heat the moment it got to the right color and consistency. 
Six gallons of sap boiled down to two pints of syrup.
“It’s crazy how much [sap] it takes, how much it evaporates when you boil it,” Lynda said. But everyone in the family agreed: it tasted amazing and was worth the effort.
The Hoveys tapped two trees in their back yard this year and hope to tap more next year. “Just like canning in a jar, you can water bath it, and it will last longer,” Lynda said. But that really isn’t a problem. With a waffle-and-pancake-loving family, the syrup they made was gone lickity split. She anticipates that will hold true for a larger batch, too.
Another change they might make is bringing the boil inside for that critical last half hour. They read online that boiling it inside leaves a sticky residue on walls and cabinets, so they’ve decided to continue to boil most of it outside, but maybe finish off just the last 30 minutes or so inside. “We used cheesecloth to strain out the wood particles,” Lynda added. Then, after a beat, she said, “Fisk’s had that, too.”
So there’s another worthy experiment for the books.
“We were impressed with what we accomplished,” Lynda said, laughing. “The kids thought it was really neat. A fun experience over all.”

Cresco Times

Phone: 563-547-3601
Fax: 563-547-4602

Address:
Cresco TPD
214 N. Elm Street
Cresco, IA 52136

Sign Up For Breaking News

Stay informed on our latest news!

Manage my subscriptions

Subscribe to Breaking News feed