Tapping Time 2026

It's maple syrup season, aka tapping time. We were in the woods this weekend tapping our trees, and made our first syrup on Sunday. 

Maple trees "run" - produce sap - when temperatures fluctuate between thawing and freezing. Those conditions create pressure in the trees which forces sap to flow out of holes. Sap flow is completely dependent on weather conditions and the season can last anywhere from just days to up to 8 weeks (3-6 weeks is a typical season). During this time the sap flows intermittently when the conditions are right, and stops when it's too warm or too cold. During a typical season we can expect to get about 10 gallons of sap from each tap (trees have 1 to 2 taps depending on size), which is the equivalent of about a quart of maple syrup. Sugar content in the sap varies by tree and by time of the season, typically decreasing as the season moves on. We average a little over 2% sugar, which means it takes about 40 gallons of sap to make a gallon of syrup. 

We collect sap using buckets hung on the trees and cook our syrup with wood. We use reverse osmosis to remove a considerable amount of water from the sap before it is cooked, dramatically decreasing our energy/wood usage. The color of maple syrup is primarily based on the length of time it's cooked, the longer it's cooked, the darker it is. Because we like dark, richly flavored maple syrup, we prefer a moderately concentrated sap following reverse osmosis (the higher the sugar content, the less time it needs to be cooked/evaporated to get to syrup).