General Overview -

Maple sugaring can be very enjoyable; however, it is labor intensive, especially for the small scale producer or hobbyist because the equipment is smaller. If a hobbyist has access to healthy, tappable sugar maple trees, the first consideration is the ability and time to evaporate the sap to finished syrup. You must be honest with yourself about the amount of time you not only have available but are willing to spend evaporating. The syrup will run when the weather is right, not when it is most suitable to you. You may have numerous good runs during a one or two month sugaring season. Unless you pull the taps early or dump some runs, you will have to process them all. Sap can only be stored for a limited period of time before spoilage. Spoilage occurs faster during good runs because the weather is warm (usually 40 degrees or more). Sap is essentially a light sugar solution that is wonderful microbe food. If you work on a farm, in your own business, or can work your schedule around good runs, then sugaring may be for you. Many dairy producers and farmers are also sugarers because this works well with their schedule.

Getting Your Feet Wet-

Alternative 1: Hobby maple syrup operations can vary greatly in size. For a producer that taps 10 trees or less, a pair of very large cooking pots may be sufficient to handle your evaporation. This method is slow and is best suited to someone that wants to learn about sugaring. Remember that 10 trees may make 20 GALLONS of sap in a good run and unless you have really big pots (apple butter or butcher kettles) or alot of time, production may be slow. A flat evaporating pan, which larger operations would us as a "finishing pan," will substantially increase your rate of evaporation in pots. These pans can be purchased new or used from a sugaring equipment supplier or manufactured by a sheet metal worker. A hobbyist should try a small-scale operation for at least a year before considering the large investment necessary to start even a small sugaring business.

Alternative 2: If you live in a maple sugaring area, you may be able to tap trees and sell the sap to a neighboring producer. A producer that wants to increase production may be willing to buy sap instead of adding taps. The purchase price will be low (in the range of $0.10 to $0.70 per gallon); however, you can develop a good collection network and perfect this end of the business prior to investing in evaporation equipment.