Maple Syrup

Anyone ever try this in a permaculture forest?

Maple is tricky because the canopy is very dense and it's allelopathic.

In BC, Canada I know of a few people who make syrup using our native large leaf maple, Acer macrophylla
Big leaf maple syrup

Jamie Wallace wrote:In BC, Canada I know of a few people who make syrup using our native large leaf maple, Acer macrophylla
Big leaf maple syrup

Cool, we have giant Acer saccharum here, I am also NE not NW so they are native to here and in abundance. Going to attempt to tap some this year, without gluttony.

I plan on 1 quart of finished syrup per tap.

We tapped two of our Big Leaf Maples this year, starting in late January. I wish we'd started earlier, but the supplies were a birthday present. We'll start in December or November next year. It makes yummy syrup--kinda like rice syrup. The sap is great to drink by itself, too. Our season here is longer but more sporadic than in the NE.

It takes a lot of boiling to get sap, but that wasn't a problem when we already had our woodstove going and needed to humidify the house for our baby. We harvested about 20-30 gallons of sap, and got about 16 oz of syrup, but we drank a lot of the sap, too.

Nicole Alderman wrote:
It takes a lot of boiling to get sap, but that wasn't a problem when we already had our woodstove going and needed to humidify the house for our baby.

I did that a bit too but you don't want to do that too much or your walls will start getting sticky.

Partially finished sap/syrup is good for coffee/tea. Old timers made hard boiled eggs in it.

Nicole Alderman wrote:but that wasn't a problem when we already had our woodstove going and needed to humidify the house for our baby. We harvested about 20-30 gallons of sap, and got about 16 oz of syrup, but we drank a lot of the sap, too.

This makes me very apprehensive. I have to wonder where that 25 gallons of water went in your house. Some places it could have gone: Into the walls to condense and rot the wood there, into the attic to condense and rot the wood there, through large holes to the outside dragging a lot of heated air with it. None of those things is good.

Thank You Kindly,
Topher

This makes me very apprehensive. I have to wonder where that 25 gallons of water went in your house. Some places it could have gone: Into the walls to condense and rot the wood there, into the attic to condense and rot the wood there, through large holes to the outside dragging a lot of heated air with it. None of those things is good.

I actually was constantly monitoring my house's humidity, since we had a three month old. We had already been boiling water just to keep the humidity above 50%. (It needs to be between 50-70% for babies.) All the maple sap did was replace the water we were already boiling. All winter long, our humidity never got above 60%, so I don't think it was going into the wall. In fact, I checked them for moisture and there was none. About half of the sap was boiled on our electric stove with the vent on, though. We drank about 5 gallons of it, too.

I did that a bit too but you don't want to do that too much or your walls will start getting sticky.

Partially finished sap/syrup is good for coffee/tea. Old timers made hard boiled eggs in it.

I hadn't thought of that! I will have to keep an eye out for it, as we won't likely be able to make a sap house any time soon. Thanks!

Nicole Alderman wrote:...we won't likely be able to make a sap house any time soon.

We boil off most of the sap outside over a fire pit or small (16 brick) rocket stove.

Nicole Alderman wrote:

This makes me very apprehensive. I have to wonder where that 25 gallons of water went in your house. Some places it could have gone: Into the walls to condense and rot the wood there, into the attic to condense and rot the wood there, through large holes to the outside dragging a lot of heated air with it. None of those things is good.

I actually was constantly monitoring my house's humidity, since we had a three month old. We had already been boiling water just to keep the humidity above 50%. (It needs to be between 50-70% for babies.) All the maple sap did was replace the water we were already boiling. All winter long, our humidity never got above 60%, so I don't think it was going into the wall. In fact, I checked them for moisture and there was none. About half of the sap was boiled on our electric stove with the vent on, though. We drank about 5 gallons of it, too.

The level of humidity in the house isn't the important part. What matters is how much water is being put into a house and where it is going. One wouldn't be comfortable pouring that 25 gallons onto the floor would one? So why pour it into the air? If the humidity in the house is relatively constant, then for every gallon of water put into the air, a gallon of water goes somewhere else. If one doesn't know where it is going, it is likely going somewhere hidden that one doesn't want it. So, the fact that the humidity never got above 60%, makes it more likely that it went into the walls. Blowing it out the vent is (probably) fine. I am just as apprehensive, by the way, about the water added to a house which is not making syrup.

By the way, the reason humidity is so hard to keep where one wants it is, that the house is leaking air, and with it, moisture. Do some air sealing, and this problem will be reduced. I recommend a competent energy audit with a blower door test, to determine where the leaks are, how much ventilation is needed, and the best ways to accomplish that.

Thank You Kindly,
Topher

p.s. Where did you get the 50-70%RH for babies figure? The only vague thing I have seen is 40-60% for best health, and it is pretty controversial (in the method, not even the results).