First time Sugaring - Box Elder Trees

[Smurphy0806]

Hi all -

We recently moved from the city and we have about 12 box elder trees that I thought I'd give it a try this year. I tapped 6. I have no idea how old they are. On the best day they gave me a gallon of syrup. I just boiled down 42 gallons to about 56 or so oz of Syrup. So about 80 to 1, which makes sense since I've read Box Elder has twice as much water. What doesn't make sense is that the syrup is actually darker than "regular" maple syrup. I thought it was supposed to be lighter according to my research. In addition, it tastes funny. Not burned. I watched the syrup like a hawk. There is no way we got over 219 degrees. (I'm in Wisconsin) It just tastes different. Is that because it is box elder? Or is that because this is my first time sugaring and home made syrup tastes different than store bought? It's not bad, just different. I'm actually quite disappointed.

I used Propane and a Turkey Fryer to boil down. I know that's a big no no, but this was an experiment and I wanted to try to use what I had so far.

Please give me some encouragement, I'm not sure what my next steps are. :(

2018 - 42 gallons sap - 56 oz syrup.

[ecolbeck]

Sorry they things didn’t work out like you expected. A few ideas:

1. If I understand you correctly, you saved all the sap over the course of more than a week and then boiled it all in one session? If that is the case then I’m guessing the sap may have spoiled and may be causing the disappointing flavor. This would also account for the darker color.
2. Boiling past 219 does not burn the syrup. Certain maple products such as granulated sugar require boiling syrup past 260F.
3. Nothing wrong with Turkey fryers. Lots of people on these forums use them.

I would keep up the research and keep asking questions. There are a lot of good folks here who are happy to help. Good luck!

[northwood]

Is it possible that some of the sap might have been "buddy"? This is sap that comes after the leaf buds start to swell. I live in the northern part of the Ontario syrup harvesting area, and we are just getting going here. (a good 2 weeks later than usual) Could also be bacteria in your sap pails (a slimy film on the inside). Sometimes it doesn't take much to turn the flavour off. I had a 4 gal. batch of syrup that was "off flavour" mid season, turns out a few warm days with no sap was enough to grow bacteria in my pails. Lots of possible causes. Don't get discouraged, it happens to all of us.

[2018 newbie]

I am a first timer and this year I tapped two sugar maples in my yard and 5 box elders in the woods next to my house. I kept the saps separate and I found that the boxelder syrup had a much stronger flavor (my husband thought it had a citrus flavor, I thought more molasses). It may be that I did something wrong, but my sugar maple syrup is beautiful and delicious ... I did find that using the boxelder on pancakes was not pleasant, but in oatmeal or perhaps bbq sauce or candied nuts may be very good. Could it be just the difference in the trees?

[littleTapper]

I've tapped boxelders the past few years and learned a few things. They're odd. My sugar content is usually decent; this year it was about 1.7%.

Early sap makes light syrup and can have a very fruity (tart blackberry) or even buttery marshmallow flavor. Later sap does tend to make darker syrup. I've also noticed it get dark really quickly near the end of boiling on my big evaporator. When boxelder gets buddy the syrup will get an awful bitter taste that hits a bit after you start tasting the syrup. So, for me, their season ends up really short. My last batch this year (several weeks ago now) came out dark, but isn't bitter and has a really maple-ish flavor :)

What do the buds look like? Perhaps you just got to them late?

I have a theory that the niter that settles out of box elder may contribute to the darkening of the syrup and I notice it more on my big evap vs doing smaller batches over propane. I don't think it handles the heat well when enough niter is made while boiling. I'd like to have time to try cooking slower (dampening the fire), doing some drain/filter and start again, and see how it comes out.

The darker stuff works awesome for BBQ sauces though if the syrup is still acceptable. The light stuff, when fruity, is awesome on ice cream and whatever you can imagine.

[maple flats]

Back in the 1970's and 80's I tapped 3 large Box Elders, they make good syrup, however I found mine to make a reddish colored syrup. Boil every day or keep the sap cold (35F or colder is best). If you don't have time to boil every day you had sap flow, at least bring what you have up to a good rolling boil, then save it for the next day.

[Smurphy0806]

Sorry they things didn’t work out like you expected. A few ideas:

1. If I understand you correctly, you saved all the sap over the course of more than a week and then boiled it all in one session? If that is the case then I’m guessing the sap may have spoiled and may be causing the disappointing flavor. This would also account for the darker color.
2. Boiling past 219 does not burn the syrup. Certain maple products such as granulated sugar require boiling syrup past 260F.
3. Nothing wrong with Turkey fryers. Lots of people on these forums use them.

I would keep up the research and keep asking questions. There are a lot of good folks here who are happy to help. Good luck!

We have a giant chest freezer so I actually froze the sap prior to boiling. But yes, I did boil it all in one session.

What recommendations do you have for small yielding trees?

[Smurphy0806]

Is it possible that some of the sap might have been "buddy"? This is sap that comes after the leaf buds start to swell. I live in the northern part of the Ontario syrup harvesting area, and we are just getting going here. (a good 2 weeks later than usual) Could also be bacteria in your sap pails (a slimy film on the inside). Sometimes it doesn't take much to turn the flavour off. I had a 4 gal. batch of syrup that was "off flavour" mid season, turns out a few warm days with no sap was enough to grow bacteria in my pails. Lots of possible causes. Don't get discouraged, it happens to all of us.

I really don't think the trees are budding. They are just starting to bud now.

[craig101]

My brother taps Box Elders. It's all he has by his place. It reminds me of Molasses in flavor and is a dark color and when held up to the light, you can see a reddish tint to the syrup. I love Box elder syrup and its flavor profile.

His ratio is about 60:1 sap to syrup.

Box elder syrup filters great in my opinion. Crystal clear syrup using paper prefilters and Orlon. My maple syrup on the other hand is a pain to filter, lots of nitre dust using the same filter setup.

[Run Forest Run!]

Smurphy don't give up on box elder syrup, it's quite nice. Like littleTapper says, the flavour varies a lot during a single season. When I've made it early in the season it is butterscotchy and by late season it is like a fruity molasses. All are excellent. Actually, if you think about it, it kind of nice to have such a variety of flavours from a single source. Depending on the batch it's great to use with anything from ice cream to BBQ sauce.

The sap from my box elders always hovers around the 2% sugar mark, never lower. That puts it on an equal footing with most other types of maples that I tap. I hope that you'll give it another try next year and have fun experiencing the different flavours that your box elder trees give you throughout the season.

[blissville maples]

Box elder run the same time as maple or after?

[Super Sapper]

Box elder run the same time as maple or after?

The start the same but end a little earlier. They can run a little lower sugar concentration but can give lots of volume.

[maple flats]

Back when I had some Box Elder taps in, it did run the same time as my sugar maple, however I don't recall if it ran as late, back then I stopped making syrup even before the sugar maple quit, because I was boiling on my woodstove in my living room and as daytime temps rose it was hard to keep the house at a nice temperature. Towards the end back then, we opened 4-6 crank out casement windows and ran a ceiling fan to ventilate the heat.
I do recall the reddish color to the syrup, but back then I had no way to check sap sugar % nor did I even wonder. My wife was a lab teck and somehow she tested the syrup density.