Cindy's Recipes and Writings
Its maple syrup collection time. Sweet, sticky, dripping off your pancakes, maple syrup. Tree tapping is done in late winter-early spring for the best yield. “Tapping Sunday” is the second Sunday in March.
The trees suitable for tapping include all of the maple family: sugar, silver and red maples as well as box elder. Sugar maple sap contains the highest concentration of sugar.
Spiles are the tubes driven into a drilled hole by tapping with a hammer. a bracket is attached to hand a 5 gallon bucket. Remember to remove the spile at the end of the season.
The start and continual sap flow depends on weather conditions. It takes an area to experience a hard freeze first, followed by temperatures reaching into the 40s. The best sap flow occurs early in the sugaring season. Daytime temperatures need to be above freezing and not fall below freezing at night or trees will stop producing syrup. or when night temperatures do not go below freezing. Tap season lasts about three to four weeks.
According to Upshoot Magazine, The Geauga County Maple Festival is one of the oldest and largest maple festival in the country . Check out how they celebrate tapping season.
Apparently there are Iowans doing this. I am so going to tap some trees next year!