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If you wish to make maple syrup at home, the first thing you must accomplish is to collect some fresh sap from a maple tree. You can achieve this by locating at least one maple tree. Sugar Maple is the type of maple tree with the highest amount of sugar. Nevertheless, the other types such as Ash-leafed Maple, Silver Maple and Red Maple can also be used, although you will not be getting sap as sweet as that of the Sugar Maple tree. The Sugar Maple is the best to use for making maple sugar candy or maple cookies. You also have to be sure that the maple trees you select are at least 4.5 feet tall and 10 inches wide.
Next, use a drill to make a hole in the tree’s trunk. This hole must be 2-3 inches deep and 7/16 inch wide. If there are some loose wood, clean it out of the hole. After doing so, tap a spout lightly into the hole using a hammer. A spout is available in hardware shops, feed stores and farm supply stores.
Get a clean bucket and hang it onto the spout to catch the maple sap as it drips out. This bucket should be non-corrosive. It is also advisable to use a container with a lid because this prevents insects, rainwater, wood shavings and bits of bark from falling into the sap.
Once you have collected enough sap, put it in containers and have it refrigerated until you are prepared to proceed to the boiling process and turn it into syrup. Note that if you want to make a lot of maple syrup, you also need to collect more than a lot of sap. This is because forty gallons of sap can only create a gallon of syrup!
The boiling is needed because fresh sap is about 98% water and only 2% sugar. Thus, it needs boiling until much of its water content evaporates. For boiling, use a large stainless steel pan or pot. It is better to boil the sap outdoors because there will surely be intense steam.
The faster the sap boils, the better its quality. When the sap first begins to boil, determine its temperature and take note of it. You will use this initial temperature later on. Once the sap begins to thicken, go back indoors and finish the boiling process there, controlling the heat. Measure the temperature of the sap from time to time. You will know that it is ready when its temperature is already hotter than the initial temperature by 7 degrees Fahrenheit.
Once the syrup is ready, use a food-approved filter, strainer, or clean cheesecloth and strain the syrup so that any trace of debris and crystallized sugars can be removed. And there you have it; you have created homemade maple syrup! You can even make different organic grade b maple syrup.