With our evaporator nearly ready, we were finally ready to go collect the sap from the trees and try our hand at making syrup. The sap-to-syrup ratio is 40:1, meaning that you’ll need 40 gallons of maple sap to make 1 gallon of maple syrup. We figured we had enough sap to make a couple of bottles of syrup.

We started a fire inside the evaporator and placed our chafing pans on top. We then poured in our maple sap, using a coffee filter to get rid of any debris. As it boils, the water will evaporate away and the sap will thicken into syrup. Throughout the process, the temperature of the boiling liquid will top out at 100° Celsius (212° Fahrenheit). However, as more and more water boils off from the sap, the temperature will slowly rise. When it hits 104° Celsius (219° Fahrenheit), it’s time to take it off the heat.

We filtered the syrup again with cheesecloth and let it settle. Now all we need is breakfast to go along with it!