Trying a batch of boxelder

[Goggleeye]

Well, being that we have probably thousands of the suckers, I decided to give boxelder a try. I dedicated 20 of my old bucket-style traditional spouts to the purpose - that should be enough to give me a batch.
I have a little bit of concern, though. When I tapped them last night, the sap flowed well, but the sap sure seems to have a unique, woody?? flavor. Unlike regular maples, which I think the sap tastes like mildly sweet water, the boxelder sap tasted like, well, boxelder sawdust.
Does anyone know if that flavor clears up? or can you taste it in the syrup as well?

Mark

[C.Wilcox]

Mark,

A bit of a "woody" flavor in the sap is completely normal. You'll also notice a difference in the way it smells when you're cooking it, but it doesn't carry over to the syrup. The syrup will definitely have a stronger flavor than maple so don't expect it to be the same. If you want a more mellow flavor just mix in some maple sap. I think you'll find that your time and effort spent cooking it will be worthwhile.

[maple flats]

Back 30-35 years ago, we made syrup tapping 3 taps sugar maple and up to 7 taps Box Elder. We boiled it together and the flavor when finished tast like syrup from all sugars as far as e could tell. However we were not blind taste testing side by side with all sugar maple syrup.

[whalems]

Does the box elder syrup finish at the density as maple?

[adk1]

what does the suryp look like? Would love to see a pic in a glass jar

[C.Wilcox]

This jar is a bit cloudy yet due to my inferior filtering methods, but you can see a little of the orange tinge that's common to box elder syrup. This jar likely also has some maple mixed in so it's not a perfect representation. I have made jars of pure box elder that were almost bright orange...really srange looking stuff. I cook, boil, and finish all my box elder sap just the same as maple and it works out well. Like Maple Flats says, if you mix in even just a small amount of maple sap with your box elder it tastes just like regular maple syrup. People with really good palates or lots of experience would likely be able to tell the difference between sugar/red/silver maple syrup and maple/box elder syrup, but both are really good.

[Goggleeye]

Sorry, but no pics from me for the boxelder syrup. I couldn't keep up with 300 taps this year on my evap, and the boxelder sap soured on me. Maybe next year.

[C.Wilcox]

Sorry, but no pics from me for the boxelder syrup. I couldn't keep up with 300 taps this year on my evap, and the boxelder sap soured on me. Maybe next year.

There are laws against allowing things like this to happen Goggleeye....

[Goggleeye]

There are laws against allowing things like this to happen Goggleeye....

Sorry officer. I'll never let it happen again. I promise. It's been eating me up for the last week. That and fact that my wife always forgets one of the 5-gallon buckets of sap she's had to check while I'm at work during a hard run. Guess I should just be thankful that I have a wife who will make the sap run during the day, and who is actually encouraging me to get a bigger evaporator:D. and filter press:D

[adk1]

Sorry officer. I'll never let it happen again. I promise. It's been eating me up for the last week. That and fact that my wife always forgets one of the 5-gallon buckets of sap she's had to check while I'm at work during a hard run. Guess I should just be thankful that I have a wife who will make the sap run during the day, and who is actually encouraging me to get a bigger evaporator:D. and filter press:D

yeah, you need a new evap with that many taps!