sorry. checked the website. 8-10yrs. 
out of stock currently but if you ordered next winter you should get them. called sweet sap silver maples.
2 Likes
Somehow my search did not show that, but it does have some good info in it. Especially your comment of 40 gal. boiling down to 1. I’m going to try it once, but it’s sounding like maybe the stores expensive price is not so bad.
2 Likes
some tap yellow birch here. they say it tastes better than the white birch they harvest in AK. higher sugar content too. i dont think its as high as sugar maple. yellow birch is a fast grower and likes wet lowlands.
1 Like
I watched several video on walnut. They say it taste almost as good a maple, but takes longer to cook. I already have lots of walnut trees, so they are a must. I have to admit Clark’s 40:1 ratio is a little bit of a downer though.
1 Like
@clarkinks That thread gets into the actual tapping, but I was more interested in the cooking. That’s where it gets sticky. How long does it take you to cook it off and how long does what you get last?
1 Like
Never had any go bad its sugary. Have kept it in the refrigerator for years. As far as cooking it down it can take hours. While your at it you may want to also look at this thread Sweet Sorghum . The thread will give you some ideas for cooking maple syrup.
1 Like
Hours doesn’t sound bad. Is there any issue doing it outside over a fire?
1 Like
Thanks. Tapping the trees is really the easy part. Cooking it down is the crap part of it. If I can boil down 5-10 gallons in a day I’ll be happy.
2 Likes
Just a matter of finding a large pot to cook it down with. The tree must be dormant when you tap it. It is way to warm here.
I made some silver syrup a few years back and it was delightful. Much fruitier than maple.
RO filtration can cutting the boiling down a lot also.
1 Like
Here is a great article about syrups from all different kinds of trees. Has a lot of useful information.
1 Like
There are plenty of good books about backyard sugaring. That info would be applicable to any type of sap, really. Like anything, there is specialized equipment you can get to do it efficiently. Some people do it in a pot or outdoors over a fire, usually just to make a gallon or maybe two. Economies of scale being what they are, you don’t do it at this scale to save money. You’ll be into it for lots of fuel and time. It’s fun and rewarding though. And tasty
Ratios of sap to finished syrup vary by species, as does timing of sap flow. Maple is ~40:1 sometimes more depending on the tree. Birches and walnuts I think are more in the 60:1 range, though not positive. I see you’re in zone 6 or 7. That’s probably a little marginal for getting good sap flow from maples, but you want alternating freezing and thawing with warm mild days. Sugaring finished up around here by the 1st or 2nd week of March. I’ve not known anyone to tap birch, though I always wanted to. We have gobs of black (or “sweet”) birch here. Yellow birch also similarly sweet. They both smell like wintergreen (bark, foliage) and I’ve wondered how much the syrup tastes like that. I’ve never even tried it. I understand it yields a lower amount of sap over a longer period. Ditto walnuts from what I understand.
Check out a book. Chelsea Green published a really good one recently.
2 Likes
are there more trees that can be tapped? what all kinds besides birch, maple, walnut?
1 Like
22 trees; all of them are maple, birch and walnut varieties. plus one sycamore!
locust? alder? any others? I grew up drinking birch beer and soda, it’s delicious. I wish I could grow birch here. even better than maple. I grow sorghum mostly just to chew on it, I don’t have enough space to grow enough to make syrup, though I love it.
2 Likes
I’ve heard Boxelder makes a good syrup if you can find one big enough.
4 Likes
Hilarious. What’s the source of this excellent tally sheet?
A coworker forwarded it to me, I’m not sure where he dug it up.