Hi Ilse Several people hereabouts tap the local bigleaf maples. The syrup is great but the concentration of the sap flowing out of the trees is much less than eastern spp. (10-20% i think). Brian Hutchings Saltspring Island BC CanadUSDA Zone 7b
-----Original Message----- From: Ilse Burch Sent: Friday, February 18, 2011 10:47 AM To: Alpine-L, the Electronic Rock Garden Society; postings copyright by authors. Subject: Re: [Alpine-l] Spring is just around the corner (off topic) Barbara, Your email brought back so many memories for me! My sister and I used to make syrup every spring in Ohio. I remember now how slippery it was going out to collect the sap and how long it took to cook it down. What a nice thing that was to remember. We used to make a gallon or two of syrup each spring. We made our own spiles out of elderberry stems (they are hollow). You are right that tapping near an old tap site won't yield much sap since tapping the tree kills a small area of the xylem- it is important not to overtap a tree because you can significantly weaken it by doing so. However, one tap each year doesn't seem like too much. I read recently that maple syrup is a very superior sweetener (healthwise) due to the large amounts of minerals that are in it. I wonder if anybody on the list currently makes syrup out of the "alternative trees" such as bigleaf maple, or one of the birches? Thank you for reactivating those nice memories. Ilse Burch zone 7ish Sammamish, WA sunny and 32 F right now, and the hepaticas are starting to bloom. On 2/18/2011 9:19 AM, Barbara vanachterberg wrote: > This morning Johan and I trudged across our berm (raised grass terrace > south of > the house) to put put in one tap in the south side of each of our sugar > maple > trees--planted by us in 1975-76. Two of the three trees are pouring out > sap like > crazy. On the other tree he drilled right under an old tap so maybe > that's why > it's not doing much. Since the snow went over our boot tops, I went out > afterward with a coal shovel (forget about the snow shovel) and dug paths > to 2 > of the trees. This would have been impossible a few days ago, but the snow > has > softened. I will dig a path to the final tree later. (Johan's cardiologist > will > not let him dig, but I enjoy it and don't try to break any speed records). > Near > one tree I saw my first maple gnat. Any entomologists out there, please > tell me > its real name. Amazing that any insect can be out so early. > > > We will cook down the sap in our basement wood stove, and finish the syrup > on > the kitchen stove. After this Vermont winter I am hoping we'll get 3 > quarts of > syrup from our 3 taps. Typically in Connecticut we get about 2 quarts. We > may > put in 3 more taps along the driveway but that means a longer walk over > our > still icy driveway. Also, those trees are in the shade so the sap should > flow > later. > > We had a lot of syrup from a friend who went out of business, and since I > am the > main sap gatherer, it was frustrating the last time we tapped, as I got > home > from work after dark, with the sap frozen. But now we are down to our last > half > pint of syrup. In my retirement it will be a pleasure to gather the sap > every > afternoon. > > > Barbara van Achterberg, Easton Connecticut USA zone 6 > _______________________________________________ > Alpine-l mailing list > [email protected] > http://mailman.science.uu.nl/mailman/listinfo/alpine-l > > _______________________________________________ Alpine-l mailing list [email protected] http://mailman.science.uu.nl/mailman/listinfo/alpine-l ----- No virus found in this message. Checked by AVG - www.avg.com Version: 10.0.1204 / Virus Database: 1435/3451 - Release Date: 02/18/11 _______________________________________________ Alpine-l mailing list [email protected] http://mailman.science.uu.nl/mailman/listinfo/alpine-l
