Conditions are ideal with cool nights, warm days
By BRIAN LEAHY
of The Gazette
It may be frustrating weather for gardeners, but the month-long stretch of temperatures teetering almost daily between winter and spring have a lot of people out making maple syrup.
"They have been coming in in herds," said Tom Bowman of Frank's Hardware, one of the local stores that sells maple syrup-producing equipment. "They just keep coming in and getting the stuff."
Overnight temperatures between 20 and 25 degrees Fahrenheit followed by daytime temperatures between 45 and 50 degrees are ideal conditions for maple trees to produce sap.
The types of people purchasing maple syrup-making equipment range from those who do it for a living to others who just want to try it out, Bowman said.
Several grandparents have come and purchased equipment to show their grandchildren how maple syrup is made, said Sharon Ditmore of Frank's Hardware.
"That's been a big thing this year," Ditmore said. "For three bucks they had a great thing for the grandkids."
To give children a sample of the maple syrup making process, all that is needed is a tap and a plastic bucket, Ditmore said. Grandparents have also been buying a bottle of maple syrup so their grandchildren can taste the end product.
Someone wanting extra flavor for his pancakes shouldn't expect to tap a tree in the morning and have a bottle of syrup later that day. The maple syrup-making process is a long one with several steps, like collecting sap, boiling sap and bottling syrup.
Detailed instructions on how to make syrup are available from stores that sell the equipment and from the county University of Wisconsin-Extension office.
It all starts with tapping a tree by drilling a hole two inches deep into the maple tree and inserting a spile (spout) into the tap hole. Maples with a diameter of less than 12 inches shouldn't be tapped, while a tree with a diameter between 12 and 18 inches can have one tap. Maples having a diameter greater than 18 inches can support two taps. Tap holes should be no closer than six inches to a tap hole from the previous season.
Sugar maples are preferred, since they tend to have the highest sugar content in their sap, but any species of maple will do for tapping, even box elders - the homeliest-looking member of the maple family.
Some sort of container is needed to collect the sap. Specially made plastic bags are available, but a bucket will work. Larger operations use plastic tubing running from each tree to a central collection point.
Experts advise collecting sap each day because it can spoil in warm weather. Before dumping sap into a storage tank, it should be filtered through cheesecloth or something similar to get rid of any bark or other impurities.
Several gallons of sap are needed to make a bottle of maple syrup. The "Rule of 86" tells maple syrup makers how much syrup they can expect from the sap they have collected.
To get one gallon of syrup, 86 gallons of sap with a 1 percent sugar content are needed. If the sugar content is 2 percent, "only" 43 gallons of sap are needed. Producers can use a hydrometer to measure the density of the sap to get a good idea of its sugar content. On average, each tap will produce about one-fifth gallon of syrup.
The most common way to evaporate the sap down to sugar is by placing a kettle or pan over a wood fire. A kitchen stovetop probably won't do.
"They need an intense heat," Ditmore said.
Cool temperatures this spring have been kind to maple sugar makers tending their fires. A common complaint last year was it was too warm to be by a fire, she said.
It takes about one cord of dry hardwood to evaporate 25 gallons of syrup. Sap with higher sugar content needs less evaporating.
After the sap is evaporated, the syrup is ready for filtering and bottling.
The next step? Make pancakes.