How to Make Maple Syrup | Ask This Old House

Ask This Old House landscape designer Jenn Nawada heads to Vermont to learn about making maple syrup commercially and at home. (See below for a shopping list, tools, and steps.)

Christopher Kimball from America's Test Kitchen leads a taste test of maple syrups with Kevin O'Connor and Jenn Nawada.

Shopping List for How to Make Maple Syrup:
- Hookless aluminum spout
- Aluminum bucket
- Aluminum bucket lid
- Large stainless-steel vat or cooking pot
- Maple syrup hydrometer
- Empty syrup bottle

Tools for How to Make Maple Syrup:
- Drill (power or hand)
- 5/16-inch drill bit
- Hammer
- Coffee filters

Steps for How to Make Maple Syrup:
1. Find a maple tree that has grown to an appropriate size. No smaller than 10 inches in diameter for one tap, 18 inches for two taps.
2. Using a drill and 5/16-inch drill bit, drill into the tree about 1_ inch deep at an angle so that the sap can flow out.
3. Take the hookless aluminum spout and tap it into the new hole until it’s secure.
4. Place the aluminum bucket onto the spout.
5. Place the aluminum bucket lid on top to keep out animals, rain, and snow.
6. When the sap is at its peak flow, empty the buckets once or twice a day.
7. When all the sap is collected, transfer it to your pot and boil it.
8. Put some of the syrup into a cup to test it using the hydrometer.
9. Immerse the thermometer into the test cup until it reaches the hot marking on the hydrometer.
10. Measurements may vary when using a hydrometer, so check instructions for your specific hydrometer.
11. Pour syrup through a filter (like a coffee filter) to get rid of niter (sediment) and collect it in a different pot or pan.
12. Pour syrup into a bottle and it is ready to use.

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How to Make Maple Syrup | Ask This Old House

[phxtonash]

I would recomend filtering before you have boiled the sap all the way down that way it will flow thru the filter better. But I only have 7 trees. I live in tennessee where it seldom stays freezing during the day so I get sap in early winter true early spring. Depending on weather. This winter was warm. Very nice video!

[cdplaya]

Can you drink the sap without making it syrup? Would it be just a semisweet drink?

[TheColorField]

I wish they would locate the sugar house to capture all that lost heat and use it to warm water or a home!

[darinbarfield]

I’m 👀 at the big foliage & wide trunk, with long roots, thinking 🤔
Sweet, I’d tap that! 😁
Maple 🍁 syrup 👍

[Luckyjack]

Do all Canadians have permanent goggle tan?

[kaitoridge]

Homeowners can use plastic spouts and tubing to collect sap too, just like the pro's! Just connect each drop line to a spring water container to collect your sap.

[bg]

I wonder how the deer deal with all of that tubing.

[_Dolofonia]

The one thing that I don't like about these videos is they sound incredibly scripted. The cringe is real.

[bobbg]

So you boil off all that water, but why waste it? Capture it for a maple water drink. I also wonder if it could be used to make spirits like a moonshine, maple cherry or apple pie. I don't drink, but I like watching moonshine on the discovery channel, you could bottle the water as it comes off the maple syrup production and use it for a by product instead of letting it go to waste, I'm sure there is a practical use for it even if its just used to make cookies or something. If it has a smell its also got a taste. Even if its just a slight taste its more then just pure water.

[jamiedeutchnoll]

Hello! We would like to use your video in a middle school science curriculum. Do you have an email where I could send a permissions letter? Thank you!

[erickytam]

what did this have to do with fixing a house?

[khol]

Americans don’t know how to do it right...you gotta bring a bottle of fine Canadian whiskey with you while you work.

[Maxid]

When will this Maple tree slavery end!

[sonam]

After tasting the syrup atleast take a moment and act like you're tasting it well.
Currently it just looks scripted.

[bungarin]

so basically maple syrup is a sap from a tree?