At this very moment, if you were to drive through any small town in rural New Hampshire, you would notice buckets hanging from trees, or a network of pale blue tubing twisting through someone’s yard. New England has a long, proud history of maple sugaring and my family has eagerly joined the tradition!
Our backyard sugaring story began in March of 2012 after my brother discovered a cigar box full of dusty antique spiles (spouts) at my family’s New Hampshire cottage. He began tapping maple trees at his home in upstate New York and shared some of the spiles—and his Sugar Maple identification tips—with us. A few days later, we ventured back home to New Hampshire and tapped 6 Oak trees and 2 Sugar Maples.
Oops! Everyone makes mistakes, and we discovered ours later that day when we had 2 overflowing buckets of sap and 6 empty ones! I pulled a small piece of bark off of a Sugar Maple tree and carried it with me as I walked throughout the yard, using it as a guide to find the correct trees.
This year, we didn’t make any mistakes. The trees are tapped. The sap is running. The syrup is cooking. And the air smells sweet!
The maple syrup is ready at 219º F. I pour it into sterile, hot jars and wait for the “ping” that all canners love to hear. It takes 40 gallons of well-filtered sap (we use coffee filters) and many hours of evaporation to make just 1 gallon of maple syrup. My son and I collect the sap twice a day and store it outside in the snow when it’s not being cooked.
My kids can’t help but taste a bit of sap from every tree we’ve tapped. It’s ice-cold and watery, with just a hint of something sweet. Nevertheless, it is obviously more delicious as Grade A, Medium Amber syrup—drizzled over homemade Saturday morning pancakes!
Backyard Sugaring Resources
The books shared below are an amazing resource if you are interested in learning more about the backyard sugaring process. It also helps to talk to someone who taps trees and produces syrup—they are full of passion and would be happy to talk about it all day!
Backyard Sugarin’: A Complete How-To Guide by Rink Mann
This book was our #1 resource!
Maple Sugaring at Home by Joe McHale
Another great guide—you can’t own too many awesome books about maple sugaring!
The Sugar Season: A Year in the Life of Maple Syrup and One Family’s Quest for the Sweetest Harvest by Douglass Whynott
If you liked Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver, you will like this story.
Sugaring by Jessie Haas
A beautifully illustrated children’s picture book about maple sugaring. A resource for your kids!
Web Resource: Tap My Trees
Kari Yermian says
What a lovely family story…I love how your maple syrup is a family effort from beginning to the yummy end…thank you for sharing!
firefliesandmudpies says
Thank you for reading!
52BrandNew says
I was just about to pin our experience with maple sugaring when I saw your pin. How cool! We just went to a demonstration, but it was fun and informative. I’m going to link your post to mine, if you don’t mind.
firefliesandmudpies says
Thank you! I can’t wait to read more about your new experiences!
Rebekah @ The Golden Gleam says
Wow, I was just captivated reading about how you have made your maple syrup. What an amazing experience you are providing your children and I can almost taste your syrup here all the way in Texas.
kierna123 says
Wow, I am seriously impressed! What an amazing experience to be involved in, more than a little jealous, I love maple syrup!
firefliesandmudpies says
I’ll be honest : It is amazing! Not only is it fun – but the money it saves! Whew! Real maple syrup is so expensive . . . but we make our own 🙂 I love it!
Anonymous says
That looks great and like a lot of fun! How long did you have to boil the sap until it reached the right temperature?
firefliesandmudpies says
You know, I’ve never actually timed it. It takes many, many gallons so it feels like it is boiling for 2 days 🙂 I measure the temperature first and then use a hydrometer to double check that it’s not too watery.
Megan says
Looks amazing! We plan to tap our few big maples this year. I need to figure out all the equipment we need though. But we are HUGE maple syrup fans:)