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Thread: Tapping trees other than maples

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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Feb 2010
    Location
    iowa
    Posts
    56

    Default Tapping trees other than maples

    I was wondering if anyone on this site had tried tapping and boiling the sap of anything other than maples. I did boxelder and some silver maples on some land we have this year. I don't have any black or sugar maples. It just seems like it would be interesting to see what it would be like to experiment with other trees. I know it can be done with birch. I have river birch, shagbark hickory, sycamore, cottonwood, black walnut on our property and would like to here from anyone on their results from tapping these trees. What does the syrup taste like etc.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Feb 2010
    Location
    Brillion, Wisconsin
    Posts
    314

    Default Maple is best

    Most trees actually don't have sap runs like maples do. Boxelder works because it is in the maple family. Like maples they need a freeze to make the pressure for the sap to come out. Birch trees make pressure from the roots that makes the sap run. Most other trees don't have sap that comes pouring out if you try to tap them.
    There is some kind of syrup made from hickory but it is made from the bark. If you check on the Internet you will be able to read about this information.
    First year 2009
    18 taps on 12 trees
    boiled in 3 gal. pot on electric stove in garage
    2010
    111 taps on 93 trees
    boiling in 200 gal. stainless tank, wood fire
    3 sided sugar shack

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Mar 2009
    Location
    Quesnel, British Columbia
    Posts
    260

    Default Tapping Birch trees

    There are 12 commercial birch tappers in Canada. I think a similar amount in Alaska.
    We have produced a Birch syrup production manual which we have on the classified ads part on this website.
    It's much different than making maple syrup but a nice syrup itself and has other uses as compared to a pancake syrup. More in cooking applications, we put it on meats & fish as a glaze or over ice cream.
    You're looking at 100 to 120 to 1 for sap to syrup ratios and it is also a different kind of sugar, primarilay fructose & glucose which has a lower boiling temp that he sucrose in maple.

    Also check out the Canadian Birch Syrup producers on Facebook

    Ted T
    BC, Canada
    Kubota 3400 4x4 Tractor
    planning for 250 Birch Trees
    D & G 2x6 Drop Flue Evaporator
    www.moosemeadowsfarm.ca
    Follow Moose Meadows Farm or Canadian Birch Syrup Producers on Facebook

  4. #4
    mklarenbeek Guest

    Default Tapping different species

    upmep - After playing with maple for a couple of years and then reading about the birch I had the same question. My internet research revealed Black Walnut syrup and poplar syrup. Put the following in an internet search for more info on the black walnut.

    Making syrup from black walnut sap. Transactions of the Kansas Academy of Science Fall , 2006

    I tapped one this year just to test the sap and mine came at 1.5% but this spring has been weird so I'm not sure if I could get higher. My yellow birch this year were reading at 0 and I didn't get around to testing a poplar until after bud break. It didn't run.

    As for the syrups made from bark - with the 200 year old native American recipe that utilizes a formula blend of sugars that looks suspiciously like table sugar - I have my doubts. I've collected some bark and will play with it after I get my greenhouse caught up but since the shagbark and walnut are from the same family and I know the walnut can be tapped I think it more likely that the bark was cooked in sap. Unfortunately I don't have any frozen sap to play with so will try the sugar and maybe some honey.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Mar 2009
    Location
    Southern Ohio
    Posts
    77

    Default

    I don't think I would try cottonwood. Ever smell that wood? The ones around here stink, and I wouldn't want to put that in my mouth. Mainly the smell comes from these trees growing in wet conditions with stagnant water being sucked up through the root system. So i have been told. Not sure if it is true, I have never researched it. Although it would make sense.

  6. #6
    mklarenbeek Guest

    Default

    wanting to get into it - I personally think coffee smells revolting but I'm not going to argue with its popularity. And there are lots of folks who can't abide the smell of any of the braccias and just as many who find them tasty.

    Ours is a small farm that sells a variety of weird stuff - www.gaeasgate.ca - Any potential crop is going to be explored. As far as the trembling aspen goes it will not be explored this year. As I mentioned they've already budded out. But if you want to smirk at a truly weird syrup idea there is always honeylocust pod syrup.

    http://www.pfaf.org/database/plants....ia+triacanthos

    and quite a few others

    http://www.pfaf.org/database/search_use.php?K[]=sweetener

    I'm planning on trying the honeylocust because I have a dozen or so lining my driveway. Only problem is that when we bought the farm 5 years back one of the first things we did was prune the trees up so the kids wouldn't have to dodge the lower branches on their way to the bus. Now I have to figure out how to harvest all of those pods before the seeds get over developed. I'm thinking of the back of a wagon. It would have been too much to hope for that the syrup could be made with the mature fallen pods.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Mar 2010
    Location
    Hampshire county WV
    Posts
    53

    Default Hickory Any good?

    I tried tapping a few Hickory trees this year but it was to late in the season to get enough to try anything with it. The sap had a sweetness to it. Has anyone tried to go with the sap not just the bark?

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Feb 2010
    Location
    iowa
    Posts
    56

    Default

    It sounds like people have thought about tapping other trees but not much has been tried. I was wondering what the syrup tasted like also.

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Apr 2009
    Location
    east kingston, nh
    Posts
    4,148

    Default

    hickory bark syrup ...not very good (I made it last fall)and you have to add ALL the sugar I let a few people taste not 1 person liked it. SO I poured it over cracked corn for the deer...they liked it. it might be good for marinades but thats it!!! I like hickory nuts(although alot of work) and the wood excellent for smoking foods that and apple wood my 2 favorites.
    may your sap be at 3%
    Brad

    www.willowcreeksugarhouse.com
    585 or so on Vacuum, about 35 on buckets/sap sacs
    Atlas Copco GVS 25A Rotary Vane vacuum pump
    MES horizontal electric releaser
    2x6 ss phaneuf Drop flue, Leader woodsaver blower, homemade hood
    300gph H2O RO
    husquvarna 562 XP
    Its Here!!! 2024 season is here get busy!!!

  10. #10
    mklarenbeek Guest

    Default

    TF Maple - Regarding Ironwood sap. There are a couple of different trees that are known by the common name of Ironwood. Once you identify your trees with a latin name you might be able to get some information from the following website; http://www.pfaf.org/index.php

    S. Culver - Hickory belongs to the same family as Walnuts and so the sap is both sweet and edible. Regarding the American Gentleman and his 200 year old native recipe utilizing processed sugar I think it more likely that Native Americans boiled the hickory bark in hickory sap.

    Red Maples - I'm currently playing with the Shagbark Hickory Syrup. I have enough bark to make 7 different batches each of which will be boiled down using three different starting sugar levels. So far I've made 2 batches for a total of 6 different samples and so far I'm not impressed either although I can already see improvement. It's nice that there is no time pressure with the bark syrups. When I finish experimenting I'll post my results.

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