A great deal of effort produces a delicious result. It's all worth it.

Very interesting. How much maple syrup does a bucket of sap produce?

I use small metal buckets which hold about two litres of sap. I did a blog on the process of tapping today. Trees must be at least 10" in diameter to be tapped safely with no adverse effects to the tree and the future buds/leaves. Each tree can potentially produce 20 gallons of sap without causing adverse effects. It takes 40 gallons of sap to produce one gallon of syrup. So you can see that I produce only a little syrup (mostly for family use).

That's incredible. It sounds like a labor intensive process too.

That's so interesting. I would love fresh maple syrup...it must be quite a treat! :>)

Delicious Lori , Imagine Pancakes with your very own Maple syrup must be worth it Yummy :o)

how old does a tree have to be before you can start tappaing it? lol might put one in here!

Yes that can be true, Bathgate. especially when it's a small operation. the sap is mostly water and a gallon of water weighs about (I'm hazarding a guess) 20 lbs. New methods which utilize plastic tubing and gravity to bring the sap from the tree to a reservoir or the evaporator takes a lot of the heavy work out of it, and you must have some kind of tractor to move the reservoir... so mechanization makes it less labour intensive and some knowledge is required to time evaporation and keep the fire going until it's done without a test for specific gravity and a thermometer.
And that's why I go to the trouble, D1. There is nothing like it! so delicious and it's free, with a bit of work!
Oh yes, Amy! My fav treat is maple sugar candy moulded into maple leaf shapes. or a piece of taffy (toffee) on a stick... chewy and delicious!
It's not exactly the age of the tree, Fran, but the size of the trunk. The tree should be at least 10 inches in diameter and the usual growth ring is a little over 1/8 " (and that's in a good year) so you see the trees must be at least 15 to 20 yrs. old. (lots of variable factors at work here) All trees can be tapped for their sap in spring but the maple produces the most sugar and as a result the most syrup per gallon of sap...and of course the incomparable taste. Birch trees can be tapped. Birch sap is very mild tasting.