Sap to syrup ratio question.

[Jim Foster]

If sugar maples are supposed to go roughly 40-1, what's the sugar percentage average? I'm getting between 2 and 3 percent on my box elders and they're supposedly 80-1 or worse. Something doesn't make sense. If I'm getting this high of a percentage, shouldn't my ratio be closer to 40-1?

Jim

[Russell Lampron]

Box elders typically only run around 1% so the 80 to 1 would be about right. If you're getting 2 to 3% out of them you're doing real good and the ratio will be the same as it is for sugars. Use the Jones rule of 86, divide 86 by the sugar content, to figure out how much sap per gallon of syrup. Syrup density is a little higher now than it was when the rule was made so using 87 or 88 would be more accurate.

[DrTimPerkins]

Jones Rule of 86

Divide 86 by the sap sugar concentration...should approximate the number of gallons required to make a gallon of syrup.

Sap brix of 2 would be 86/2 = 43 gal sap to make a gal of syrup.

[Sugarbush Ridge]

There are so many people that don't make syrup quote 40 gals. to 1 as if it is carved in stone. And then give me that "deer caught in headlights look" when I say I'm cooking about 55-56 to one for one gallon of syrup and everyone will have a different ratio.

[NhShaun]

I would be lucky to get 2% sap on a good day from my young red maples while my friend a few miles away was getting 3.5% from his sugar maples. I was even boiling .5% raw sap at times like a bafoon, it's mostly just a waste of firewood and time at that point, unless you have an RO.

Side note, i still get people that think maple syrup just pours out of the tree at the proper density and goes right into a bottle, and the season goes all year. That's when i give them the "Deer in the headlights" look. If only it were that easy, i probably would have found some other labor of love hobby to consume my spring every year.

[berkshires]

A couple years ago someone here posted a link to how palm sugar is traditionally made. Makes maple sugaring look like a breeze in comparison!

Edited to add the link: http://mapletrader.com/community/showthread.php?33972-Our-Sugaring-brothers-in-Thailand

GO

[Jim Foster]

Thanks fellas!

Jim

[Galena]

....I still get people that think maple syrup just pours out of the tree at the proper density and goes right into a bottle, and the season goes all year. That's when i give them the "Deer in the headlights" look. If only it were that easy, i probably would have found some other labor of love hobby to consume my spring every year.

Oh yeah lol I got that from my eldest brother when he came to visit me one year....and yeah he went to school in Ontario and definitely would've done the sugarbush thing! I guess he was mistaking maples for pines :-)