It is that time of year again! The sap is running in the Maple trees and it is time to tap the trees. Polly consented to carry all of the jugs to collect the sap for us on the first day. She had quite a load!
We used PVC pipe this year for our
spiles, and although not as authentic as the sumac
spiles, they were much more convenient and are giving better results.
Now we have to wait for the temperatures to become freezing at night and above freezing during the day. In Southern Illinois, we have to tap earlier (late December to early January) than most places since our sap begins to flow earlier in the year.
With Red Maples, it takes about forty to fifty gallons of sap to boil down to one gallon of syrup! A lot of tree sap goes into that little bit of syrup that you put on your pancakes.
But, it is worth all of the hard work collecting the sap and boiling it down for the wonderful taste of "real" maple syrup on a good hearty pancake breakfast! Especially knowing it came from your own farm!
Mmmm!
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