Walk into any gift shop in Vermont and you’ll find shelves of maple syrup, alongside t-shirts that boast “I’d tap that” with a maple tree front and center. We love syrup, we love tapping, so why limit it to maple?
I remember seeing an off-hand mention of tapping black walnut trees a few years ago, and it blew my mind? You can tap that?
I later found that you can tap a lot of trees other than maple, dozens in fact. Most are available locally, and this spring I hope to tap linden and ironwood to put them to the test.
I intend this to be a comprehensive list, so please do comment below if you know of any I’ve missed. Thus far, I’ve found a total of 27 different tappable species.
I’ve tried to include flavor profiles, when to tap and any other information I’ve come across. I’d love to hear your experiences tapping any of these trees.
Tapping Maple Trees for Syrup (Acer Species)
There are 10 different species of maple trees that can be tapped for syrup. Each produces a syrup with a slightly different flavor profile. The differences are subtle, and the species has less to do with the final flavor than other seasonal and local factors.
Regardless of the maple species, the syrup flavor will be determined largely by your unique climate, the weather that year, and the time of the season when it was boiled (early v. late season). That means that no two maple syrups are exactly alike, each has its own unique qualities in much the same way that regionally specific fine wines boast.
For the most part, commercial sugar makers only use densely planted sugar maple stands for syrup production. At home, feel free to experiment with any of these 10 syrup-producing maple species.
Sugar Maples (Acer saccharum)
Sugar maples are by far the first choice for use in maple syrup production. They have the highest sugar content, the best yield and the longest sugaring season. On average, sugar maples will produce for 20 days across a 6 week season and produce roughly one quart of syrup for each tree tapped.
Black Maples (Acer nigrum)
Commonly confused with sugar maples, black maples produce a very similar sap. It’s nearly as sweet, and the trees produce at about the same time. Black maples have a more limited range and are found further west throughout Illinois and the great lakes states.
Red Maple (Acer rubrum)
Unless you’ve marked trees in the fall, it can be hard to tell the difference between a red maple and a sugar maple. Red maples have a high sugar content in their sap, but not quite as high as sugar maples. It’s reported to be roughly 1.5 – 2% sugar (as compared to 2% to 2.5% for sugar and black maples).
Red maples tend to grow on wet and waterlogged soils that are marginal for sugar maples, so they are used for maple syrup production in a pinch.
Unfortunately, red maples tend to break bud early in the spring, cutting the sugaring season short. Once a tree “breaks bud” or begins to leaf in, the sap begins to take on a “grassy” taste and is less desirable. Sugar makers consider this “green” syrup inferior, but it’s still perfectly fine for home use.
There’s a great article about tapping southern red maples at Live The Old Way, along with a really interesting discussion of maple allergies. Who knew you could actually be allergic to burning maple wood in your wood stove?
Silver Maple (Acer saccharinum)
Silver maples are a particularly beautiful tree, with leaves that are pointier in shape than the large maple hands on sugar maple trees. The leaves also take on a silvery hue as they’re blown in the wind.
Like red maples, silver maples tend to leaf early in the spring, cutting the sugaring season short. Take care to stop tapping as they begin to break bud to avoid grassy syrup.
Silver maples also have a lower sugar content, rated at roughly 1.7% sugar in the sap on average (as compared to 2% to 2.5% in sugar maples). Yields will be lower, and the finished syrup is a bit lighter colored and thinner.
Beyond that, silver maples produce a lot of “sugar sand” which is excess minerals that need to be filtered out of the final syrup. When we make syrup, we don’t filter it. We let it settle to the bottom of the jar and then I eat it with a spoon or on toast.
It’s delicious, and I tell myself that it’s a great way to get my minerals. Nonetheless, it clogs up the works in commercial operations, making silver maple the 4th choice, well behind the three listed above.
Norway Maple (Acer platanoides)
The sap of Norway maples is not quite as sweet as sugar maples, but the tree is quite common in some areas. It’s actually considered invasive by some since it tolerates conditions normal maples cant handle. The taste is quite similar to sugar maple syrup.
Boxelder (Acer negundo)
Boxelders are a small scrubby form of maple that is heavily used in northern Canada where land is marginal and prime trees are less available. While it takes roughly 40 gallons of sugar maple sap to make a gallon of maple syrup, box elder sap takes 60 or more gallons to boil into a gallon of syrup due to its lower sugar content.
Since they’re generally small, each tree also produces less than a large sugar maple. For the most part, they’re only used for syrup if the land is unsuitable for anything else. The syrup tends to taste a bit like sorghum syrup, so it’s not quite that same mapley flavor you’re used to.
Bigleaf Maple (Acer Macrophyllum)
Bigleaf maple is a maple species used for syrup in the pacific northwest, all the way from Alaska down through California. Keep in mind that though it grows out west, to produce syrup you’ll need nights below freezing and daytime temperatures around 40 degrees. That’s not common across the range of bigleaf maple south of Alaska.
Bigtooth Maple (Acer grandidentatum)
Native to the interior of the United States, mostly out west, bigtooth maple is very similar to sugar maple. Yields are somewhat lower, and again, keep in mind this tree will only produce with freezing overnight temperatures and daytime highs in the ’40s.
Rocky Mountain Maple (Acer glabrum)
Rocky Mountain Maple is another maple species native to Western North America. Though technically tappable, spring temperatures are not often right for a sap run.
Gorosoe (Acer mono)
Gorosoe is a species of maple tapped in Korea. This tree has been tapped for its sap for millennia, though the sap is not generally cooked down into syrup. The people of South Korea drink the sap for its health benefits.
According to the New York Times, Korean people are said to go on sap drinking binges, consuming literally gallons in a day in a hot room. The theory is to sweat out the bad stuff and replace it with health-giving maple sap.
Gorosoe sap is mildly sweet and tastes a bit like weak green tea.
In Korea, the uncooked sap sells for about $7 per gallon. That actually works out to be much more expensive than sap cooked into syrup in the states. Though you can cook Gorosoe sap into syrup, that’s not how it’s traditionally consumed.
In North America, tree sap is becoming a popular spring beverage, and a few producers are even canning it up as fresh maple seltzer (just sap and carbonation). One of my blogger friends writes about the benefits of consuming fresh sap here: Tree Sap: Natures Spring Tonic.
Tapping Birch Trees for Syrup (Betula Species)
Birch syrup has been used by traditional peoples in what is now Norway and Sweden since long before the discovery of the new world. It’s just starting to be commercially produced throughout the world, with several producers in the United States selling it at high prices.
Birch syrup requires more energy to produce, as it takes 110 gallons of cooked down sap to make a single gallon of birch syrup, as compared to 40 gallons of sap for traditional maple syrup. These days, some maple syrup producers are adding birch syrup on as a sideline.
Birch trees produce a bit later than maple trees. They require daytime temperatures in the ’40s and ’50s and often produce in April just as maple trees are finishing their sap run.
Birch trees only produce for about 2 weeks, so it can be a quick way to get a last little bit of syrup made before you put away your tapping gear for the year. In 2018, maples began producing on our land in late February, and birch trees didn’t start flowing until late April.
Still, its high price tag along with its delicious distinctive flavor are good reasons to try producing your own at home. Retailers are currently selling syrup for an average of $25 for an 8 oz bottle, or the equivalent of $400 per gallon.
Traditionally, birch syrup was used as a sweetener, made into vinegar, fermented into liquors, wines and ales, as well as having uses in traditional medicine. It’s reported to have been used for ailments ranging from topical rashes to scurvy.
Birch sap is more acidic than maple sap, and it has a tendency to eat away at traditional maple sap buckets. These days, producers use plastic tubing and spouts, and historically it would have been collected using sumac or elderberry taps, into bark or wood buckets.
If you’re considering tapping birch trees, here’s a tutorial I wrote up when we made our first birch syrup.
Finished birch syrup. This batch started at 6 gallons…and it boiled down to about 6 ounces (3/4 cup).
Paper Birch (Betula papyrifera)
Paper birch has the highest sugar content of all the birches and is considered the best for commercial tapping. Still, the sugar content is less than 1% on average, and it takes almost 3 times as much paper birch sap to make a gallon of syrup as it does for maple.
Yellow Birch (Betula alleghaniensis)
Studies have shown that yellow birch contains the highest levels of antioxidants, making it desirable for syrup production. Some Canadian producers are selling specially made yellow birch syrup for this reason.
It has a lower sugar content than paper birch, and it breaks bud early, meaning a very short season (less than 2 weeks). This makes yellow birch syrup hard to come by, but the finished syrup has a pronounced caramel flavor.
Black Birch (Betula lenta)
Black birch is a variety that is traditionally used and is often fermented into beer.
River Birch
This birch species is common in the Southeastern United States, and it has been planted as an ornamental tree in other regions. Though production is marginal, river birch will make syrup.
Gray Birch
Likewise, gray birch can make syrup, but only in a pinch. It’s more of a shrub than a tree, and it rarely grows large enough to be worth the effort.
European White Birch
A cousin to the American White Birch, European white birch can be used successfully for making birch syrup.
Tapping Alder Trees for Syrup (Alnus Genus)
The pacific northwest lacks sugar maples, but it doesn’t lack ingenuity. I’ve found countless references to tapping alder trees, and it makes a lot of sense.
They’re in the birch family, but they split off into another genus (Alnus). They’re closely related cousins, so it follows that they’d have similar sap properties.
Forum comments make it sound like the syrup is “spicy” and that scares people a bit. Birch syrup is also a bit spicy, and that’s what I love about it.
I finally found a reference from Mother Earth News to tapping alder, alongside birch and bigleaf maple. The article is written by someone who taps them regularly, so I’d give it credence.
Tapping Nut Trees for Syrup (Juglans Species)
Nut trees in the walnut family all produce high sugar sap that can be boiled into excellent syrup. The sugar content and timing are similar to that of maples. Nut trees are some of the last to break bud in the spring, so they’ll keep producing usable sap long after maples have finished.
Though the season is longer, they actually produce far less sap, only about 1/3 as much per tree as maples. That means that you’ll need to tap more trees to get the same amount of finished syrup.
Trees in the walnut family grow wild in many parts of the country, especially areas where maples are not common. That makes them especially valuable for tapping.
Black Walnut (Juglans nigra)
Black walnut syrup has a unique, light and refreshing taste that’s nothing like the tanning-filled nuts they produce in the fall. A friend of mine taps black walnut trees in Missouri each year.
Just like with maple trees, the season varies dramatically with the weather. They’ve tapped as early as January and as late as March.
Butternut (Juglans cinerea)
Butternuts are said to produce a smooth, light syrup. Around these parts, we may never know. In the last few decades, the native butternuts have been devastated by butternut canker, and we’ve seen tree after tree come down.
The canker weakens the wood and eventually kills the whole tree. There’s only 1 butternut left standing on our land, with a sad 10 or so leaves. It’s not long for this world.
If you find a true butternut, do it a favor and cherish it. I’m sure the syrup is delicious, but leave that beautiful tree alone.
Heartnut (Juglans ailantifolia)
Heartnuts are the Japanese version of an English walnut, and they’ve been naturalized to the states. Just like all trees in the Juglans family, they can be tapped for syrup.
Buartnut (Juglans xbixbyi)
Buartnuts are a cross between butternuts and heartnuts that seems to be resistant to the butternut canker! They produce a delicious buttery nut, from hearty trees that can be grown as far north as zone 4.
They’re showing great promise to replace the native butternuts in the forest ecosystem. Tap away my friends, and save a butternut.
English Walnut (Juglans regia)
Though English walnuts can be tapped for syrup, they generally grow in warm regions that don’t have good spring weather for tapping. There are a few hearty varieties being developed for the northeast, so perhaps soon there will be a thriving English walnut and walnut syrup market for us here in Vermont.
Tapping Sycamore Trees for Syrup (Platanus occidentalis)
Sycamore sap has a lower sugar content than maple, so it’ll take quite a bit more sap to make a reasonable amount of syrup. They’re very common landscape trees, and so odds are you have a few in your neighborhood.
Even if you only have a few, the sap can be mixed in with the sap of other tappable trees. Sycamore syrup has a distinctive butterscotch flavor, and even added to other sap in small quantities, it’ll give you a unique finished syrup.
Outdoor life writes about making sycamore syrup but they state that the yield is the same as maple. The article is a bit sparse on information, so I’m left to wonder if they were actually successful in the end.
Tapping Linden Trees for Syrup (Tilia americana)
The sap of linden trees (basswood) is said to have a very low sugar content. The trees tend to grow where water is abundant, and as a result, have very watery sap.
This spring I intend to find out. Most mentions of tapping basswood trees say that there’s not enough sugar in the sap to bother with boiling, but those same sites dismiss birch syrup just as easily.
It’s good to note that young basswood saplings have a pithy center, can be cut and bored out for use as tree taps. Alongside sumac and elderberry spiles, that could come in handy if you’re hoping to make your own homemade taps.
Most parts of linden trees are edible or at least useful in some way, and though I’ve yet to tap one, they’re worth having around for their tasty leaves and blossoms.
This is one of our linden trees tapped for syrup. Sap didn’t run, but we realized too late it was a dead tree. We’ll try a different one next year.
Tapping Ironwood Trees for Syrup (Ostrya virginiana)
Ironwood trees are considered a weed tree by foresters since they readily grow in the understory and can outcompete more marketable species in low light. Our woods are full of them, and though I don’t consider them a weed, they are prolific.
They produce sap much later than maples and start running about a week after birch trees. We found boiling 2 gallons of sap yielded about 4 ounces of syrup, which is not quite as good as maples, but much better than birches.
The syrup was quite bitter and had a slight tannin taste. I wrote up our experience tapping ironwood trees if you’re curious.
An ironwood tree producing sap. Look at that beautiful drip of delicious…
Tapping Hickory Trees for Syrup (Carya genus)
Hickory trees can be tapped for syrup, but these days that’s not how “hickory syrup” is made. A producer called Wildwoods Syrup is selling hickory syrup commercially and produces more than 30,000 bottles annually.
Their product is “wild foraged” but it’s made by boiling hickory bark to extract its flavor and then adding cane sugar. Though it does produce an interesting smokey and woodsy flavor, it’s not from tapped hickories.
You can find a recipe for shagbark hickory syrup here, no tapping required.
I have yet to find anyone who can tell me if there’s a difference between actually tapped hickory syrup, and boiled hickory bark and sugar. If you have shagbark hickories to tap, give it a try and let me know how it goes.
Tapping Elm Trees for Syrup (Ulmus genus)
Though supposedly tappable, and listed as a syrup tree even by county extension agents, Elms have their own problems. Dutch elm disease is destroying elm trees by the millions, and adding to that stress by puncturing the bark and potentially contaminating healthy trees, is just irresponsible.
I’d class these as the same as butternuts. They’re supposed to make good syrup but stick to more responsible choices.
Making Palm Syrup (Coconut Palm and other palm species)
But you don’t have to live in northern, temperate climates to have access to tappable trees. The Asian sugar palm, for example, not only contains more sap than a typical maple tree, its sap contains up to five times as much sugar (sucrose).
Add to that the fact that it can be extracted for fully half the year, not just during a six-week early spring “sap run”, and you’ve got a seriously high-producing sugar tree.
Some Asian palms are capable of delivering 20 or more liters of their super-sugary sap in a single day. Compare that to even the highest producing maple tree, which can at best yield eight.
Other sugar-producing tropical trees include oil palms, date palms, sago palms and coconut palms. All produce more sugar and in greater quantities than maple trees.
Where can you find these syrups? Usually in health food stores, or online where they’ll label as “palm honey” or “coconut palm syrup.” It’s marketed as a low glycemic alternative to sugar, in much the same way as agave nectar.
Alton Brown’s blog, Serious Eats, calls Palm Syrup the maple syrup of southeast Asia:
“Maple syrup—and, to a lesser extent, honey and agave—may be the boutique sweetener in the U.S., but it’s all about palm sugar in Southeast Asia. Particularly in Malaysia and Indonesia, you’ll find some of the best tasting sugar around, made with the care and attention granted to fine wine. Rather than a single product, this is a whole class of sugars; different regions use different palms, extraction methods, and local terroir to create distinct and unique products. (Serious Eats)”
Other Tree Species to Tap
In theory, just about any deciduous tree can be tapped in the spring. They all should produce some amount of sap as the freeze-thaw cycle brings sap up to the buds in spring. The above list is based on credible references or my own experience.
I also found references to tapping a number of other trees, but I’m skeptical about these claims:
Poplar Trees – One reference mentions tapping poplar trees, but there are a number of other factual errors in the post that leave me skeptical. They don’t seem to have actually tried it.
Poplar trees are used to make Balm of Gilead, which leads me to believe their sap is gummy and resinous. If you have experience, leave it in the comments below.
Wild Burlington, an outdoor education group based in Vermont, mentions tapping the following trees as an experiment in one of their classes. They followed up to say that they were not very successful, but they believe they just tapped too late in the season.
They also note that the sap of black locust, smoke tree, staghorn sumac and buckthorn are toxic and should not be tapped for syrup. They tapped them as part of an experiment to see how much sap would flow:
- White ash (Fraxinus americana)
- Apple (Malus domesticus)
- Big-toothed Aspen (Populus grandidentata)
- Black Cherry (Prunus serotina)
- Hackberry (Celtis occidentalis)
- European larch (Larix decidua)
- Red Oak (Quercus rubra)
- Black Locus (Robinia pseudo-acacia) – Potentially toxic, do not tap.
- Smoke tree (Cotinus sp.) – Potentially toxic, do not tap.
- Staghorn sumac (Rhus typhina) – Potentially toxic, do not tap.
- Buckthorn (Rhamnus cathartica) – Potentially toxic, do not tap.
Final Thoughts
If you’re planning on experimenting with tapping new tree species, first and foremost, make sure it’s not toxic. Also, be sure that it’s not a threatened species like butternut or elm. Stick to deciduous trees, those that lose their leaves in winter.
Pines can be “tapped” but the sap is not used for syrup, but instead glue and turpentine. I did find one reference to “sugar pine” and the article noted that “John Muir found its sweet resin preferable to maple sugar (Source)” but that was chewing resin, not syrup made from sap.
I’d love to hear if you have experience tapping anything other than maple. Post links or stories in the comments below to add it to this repository of knowledge.
Thomas Fowler
What about Oak trees? Our predominant hardwood around here in Southern Virginia…
Ashley Adamant
I haven’t been able to find any information one way or the other about oaks. Our land is too wet for oaks, so I can’t test it. I’d love to hear results if anyone tries it though!
Kit Manson
Please check to see what oak diseases are present in your area. Out here in the Midwest, you could tap a mature red oak in the spring and it will be dead by winter of oak wilt disease. Not worth it. At all.
Jo
You fail to show a correlation between tapping a red oak and the same tree dying of oak wilt that same year. WHY is it important to not wound oak trees in the spring? There are many people who probably haven’t heard of this disease. If there isn’t any oak wilt in the area then the chances of introducing the fungus is low.
Linda Smith
Great post! I had no idea there were so many trees you could tap for syrup!
Mason
Yes I am from McBride B.C Canada I was wonder I g about the spruce tree and the Douglas for tree there is a abundance of those types here a very little has been commented on for those spieces
Ashley Adamant
As far as I know, only deciduous trees (trees that lose their leaves in winter) are tapable for syrup. Evergreens produce pitch, which has other uses, but it wont make syrup.
Mystery
Oak has tannin in it so don’t tap it.. it used for tanning hide. Apple seed have cyanide so I don’t that’s safe either
stephen tucker
I have an abundance of buckeye trees. I wonder 8f those can be tapped ?
Liam Brayton
To my knowledge the buckeye was used by natives to catch fish by grinding up the nut and throwing it in a pond or river. The nut acted as a neurotoxin and temporarily stuned the fish long enough to just pick them out of the water. Now the nut and sap are two completely different parts of the tree but it could suggest that the sap may have the same neurotoxin. Might not be good for consumption but also could be used for something else? I’d like to know what?
Jerry Birkby
I’ve been wondering about the Honey Locust for tapping. It is a large very thorny tree that is kind of taking over the timbers around here. The seed pod has a sweet edible pulp which makes me think it might have a sweet sap, but the Black Locust, a near relative, is somewhat toxic. Know anything about it?
Ashley Adamant
I wish I could help you with that one, but honestly, I don’t know. I did a good bit of research trying to answer your question and I came up empty.
Irene
Do not tap any locusts. My understanding is all but: black locust fliowers that are great in fritters and honey locust pod sap are edible.
sls4ak
I would want to tap some locust trees then test the syrup for. Toxins. The reports of toxicity are sketchy at best There are too many assumptions here, I believe.
Now where did I put the spare mass spectrometers?
Jim Richardson
not a good choice to tap for sap as most locusts are toxic
Sally
This is really cool! Birches are also tapped in Russia for a spring drink.
Dawen
Oh maaan, this is exciting! I’d only heard about tapping maple and birch. (Although I suppose some of my broader-scoped books might mention tapping palms, and I just glossed over it because I don’t live in a tropical area.) My family has a couple dozen black walnuts, but they’re still young and maybe a foot taller than me. But there’s alders *everywhere*.
Also I don’t think we have the right sort of spring, no matter what trees we have at what stage maturity. More’s the pity. Even just knowing tapping alders and walnuts is exciting, in my book. 😛
Chris S.
Ashley, I live in southcentral Pennsylvania an I have many Tulip Popular trees. I have tried tapping them but I did’nt even get one drop from them. Great article by the way.
Chris
Ashley Adamant
Thanks Chris. We’ve had hit or miss results with some of these too, but we’re still trying!
Joe
Tulip poplars are not really poplar trees. Maybe that is why they produced no sap for you. Or perhaps timing. The list here is nice but I need to do additional research on if the listed trees are freeze thaw cycle or root pressure to know better when to tap them.
Belinda
http://bhort.bh.cornell.edu/tree/list.htm
Cornell University Ithaca, NY …they have a list of 50 trees. You might find some more information their. Thank you for posting your post, it is a really good. Best that I have seen in a long time. I love the inside information, which most posts and websites don’t give. Thank you again.
Adam M
In the Southwest we have an Elm that is not endangered called the Siberian Elm. It is a weed tree with very few uses (the seeds are edible though and the bark can be used for some kind Slippery Elm alternative). Have you heard of the sap ever being tapped from these Elms?
Lynwood Wagner
Ashley,
Have you actually yourself successfully gotten sap out of a hickory? I tried with no success. Same for poplars after someone misread an ad for “Poplar Bark Syrup.” Have made syrup from sugar and silver maples, black and white walnuts (gooey pectin laden), boxelder and I am pretty sure, a sycamore about 10 years ago. I say pretty sure because I got nothing when I tried sycamores and hickories last year during prime tapping weather for maples. But I distinctly remember getting sap out of a sycamore about 10 years ago and making syrup.
I wrote all over to folks who put out pamphlets and could not find anyone who had actually, themselves tapped a hickory.
Lynwood Wagner
Johnson City, Tennessee
Ashley Adamant
I haven’t myself tapped hickory either, and every reference I can find, that includes a first-hand account, talks about making hickory syrup from boiling the bark and then adding sugar to make a hickory flavored syrup (rather than tapped syrup). I sent out to our local town e-mail list asking if anyone had a hickory in their yard so I could try, and I got no replies. We’re planting hickories this year, but I’ll be an old lady by the time they can be tapped.
Jim Richardson
im.trying my hand at tapping shagbark hickorys in.siuthern iowa .
will.post when I’m done with the hickorys.
Ashley Adamant
Wonderful, I’m excited to hear what you find!
David Lapointe
Hi Jim, so what are the results with tapping Shagbark hickory ? Is there any sap following the tapping ?
Lynwood Wagner
We tried a sycamore again this year and it actually has run sap within the last 10 days. Not much, maybe 1/10th what you would expect from a similar maple.
LW
Michelle Abernathy
A pectin enzyme added to your walnut sap prior to boiling will take care of that problem for you! I used about a drop per gallon and have only had some pectin the one time I forgot to add my drops in. 🙂
Wally Martin
Can grape vines be tapped. I have one that is 20 years old and 6 inches in dimeter. I am in Langley BC Canada
Ashley Adamant
That is a good question, they do get big sometimes. They don’t have the same wood and I’d doubt the pressures in the vine happen in the same manner as a tree trunk. My assumption is no…but really I have no idea.
ken j
Indeed grape vines can be tapped. Tapped with a hammer, a stick,ect.
Penny Eadie
grapes ‘bleed’ copiously when pruned too late in the spring, so yes you could probably tap a large one like yours for sap.
Melissa Blake
Grapevines are an excellent source of fresh water. We frequently “tap” them in late spring through early fall simply by cutting through a garden-hose diameter vine and letting it drip. I don’t know anyone who has tried boiling it down, but it is delicious to drink.
I’ve also heard that sycamore sap runs later in the year than maple. Does anyone know what the ideal tapping time or for sycamores is?
Johnny
Started my sycamore tapping 1st week of March in Deep South. Runs well
Sally Burleson
First time to try and got about a half gallon of Black Walnut sap today . I boiled it down to about 1/4 of some tasty syrup here in North Arkansas. Got a Maple taped this evening but dont know the type Maple it is. Its fun to try new things like this. Thanks for a great article!
M
I am in NWArkansas and want to try! This is encouraging, for we have sycamores and black walnuts around us. I never even considered tapping the maples that grow around here. Thanks for the article, and thanks for the comment!
Rob Riman
Great list! We tapped a Sycamore Maple (Acer pseudoplatanus) a few years back. Though it certainly wasn’t as tasty as Sugar or Norway Maple sap, we got a good run from it. I would describe the flavor as being on the earthy side of sweet. As for the actual syrup, I can’t say — we simply drank it as a Spring tonic. Number 28?
Derek kingston
My dad told me they tapped poplar trees to make vinegar (100 years ago.)
Hugh Tomlinson
Great article Ashely! With tapping season underway here in Wisconsin I expanded my operation past just tapping Sugar Maples and have tapped both Shagbark Hickory and Butternut this year. I have been able to boil down the first batch of Butternut sap into syrup and it is a delicate light flavor that will be perfect for french toast. The Shagbark hasn’t given any sap as of yet but I am hoping it runs a bit later than the Maples do. I make the Shagbark syrup from the bark currently and am anxious to see if the sap syrup has a different flavor… I will let you know if I have any success.
Julie
Lehman’s Non-Electric Catalog sold tulip poplar syrup and shagbark hickory surup, years ago. The hickory syrup was delicious and tree-y, but the poplar syrup didn’t knock our socks off.
Michele
Thanks for the article. I don’t know about tapping trees at all but the Shagbark Hickory syrup is made by roasting and then boiling the bark. Hickory syrup tastes great!
The Tulip Poplar syrup is made from the flowers of the tree instead of the sap. I have not tried any yet.
Shanna
Hi I’m interested in the Butter Nut Tree I think my Son may have them on his property but I can’t seem to find a good picture of the leaf and nut. Could you please send me one so I can let him know to protect them from cutting and pest and such. Thank you,
Ashley Adamant
This extension guide has some really good info on identifying them, with pictures of EVERY part of the butternut: https://www.extension.purdue.edu/extmedia/FNR/FNR-420-W.pdf
Peter Forman
New Leaf Tree Syrups produces both Sweet and Tangy Beech syrup so I would assume Beech is also tappable.
I have at least 20 mature Beech trees on my property, including one that is certainly over 100 years old. Any ideas about best practices – time of year – etc. would be much appreciated.
We are in North GA.
Ashley Adamant
I just sent a message to new leaf tree syrups, asking them to let me know when the beech syrup is available again since they’re currently sold out (because I’ve just got to try it). I’ve also asked them about the season and yield, and hopefully, they respond. When/if I hear back I’ll let you know, but if it were me I’d put the taps in when the temps are below freezing at night but then above during the day. Then keep monitoring all the way through bud break. I’m not sure how that works in Georgia, since I don’t even know if it freezes there in the winter. Good luck, and I’ll let you know if I hear back.
Ashley Adamant
Looking again at their website, while their mailing address is in Mass, their about section says they’re somewhere in VT. Then I saw a picture of their sugar house…and I drive by it all the time. Small world. I know right where they are, and if nothing else this spring I’ll stop in when they do open house day (like all the sugar houses do here in March) and talk to them about it.
Russ Tschetter
Great article! I live on the southern Oregon coast on four acres with plenty of alder trees. It usually doesn’t freeze, so I’m wondering how successful it could be. Worth a try!
When we lived in town there were three black locust trees on the lot. The blossoms were sweet, we put them in salads.
Jim
Up and down the coast of California, you find the coast live oaks weeping sap due to weepy nut disease. I’ve got a huge tree in the back yard and the syrup accumulated. I tasted it. Absolutely delicious. And it attracts thousands of bees.
This makes me think the live oak could be tapped.
Brandon Hurd
Would love to know more if you find out! I am on the central coast so that would be my best bet for tapping…
Kat
Sago palm is a highly toxic plant causing irreversible liver damage. It’s not even a “palm ” tree. I wouldn’t tap that!
Thomas Bruneau
why do the temperatures for maple trees have to go below zero when you tap the
Ashley Adamant
There’s something about the temperature changes that causes sap to run. For maple trees, it’s days above freezing and night below. Other trees, like birch, run based on soil temperature and need daytime and nighttime temps above freezing. It depends on the mechanism that the trees use to signal sap run.
Thomas Bruneau
Yes that’s what I have heard and read from many sources, but I don’t believe it’s entirely true. I believe it’s true for eastern Canada, and US, and probably also other cooler winter areas, but not for places that have mild winter. I say this with no technological scientific proof but from observation. I live in Mission BC, Canada, 70 kilometer east of Vancouver. We tried to tap last year and meet with little success, (most likely simply we tapped to late for our climate) so that year we made birch syrup in stead. This past winter (mid January-mid February) we made maple syrup (about a gallon/4 litters). The temperatures seemed to be related to sap flow but not to drastically as the temperatures hardly change (night to day temperatures as well). We have had very few nights below zero during this process, lots of rainy days near 5 degrees Celsius, and a relatively good steady flow in our taps for the holes that were successful. The taps gave about 3-4 gallons in three days for 4-5 weeks. I’m asking as I am curious to know more. I would love to hear from those that live on the west cost and perhaps have even greater success that myself.
Kathy
Can white walnut (butternut) and black walnut sap be combined to make syrup?
Ashley Adamant
Yup!
Kathy
Thanks!! This is my first time tapping walnut trees. One of my taps is releasing green sap, is this the pectin I have seen folks talking about?
Ashley Adamant
That is a darn good question…and that’s one I haven’t personally tapped. My friend Teri at homestead Honey has experience with them, and I’d suggest asking her as a comment on this post: https://homestead-honey.com/beyond-maple-syrup-tapping-black-walnut-trees/
Kathy
Thank you!
Kristin
I tapped our Norway Maple and was very happy with the results. It’s a great urban homesteading project because these trees are so prevalent in urban areas and these urban trees will generally have slightly sweeter sap. As you pointed out, the sap is generally less sweet than from Sugar Maples, but I believe due to urban trees having more space for larger canopies they get a bit sweeter in this context and are more comparable to a Sugar Maple. That was my experience anyways, which I shared with my sap to sugar ratios in this blog post: https://thisinspired.life/yes-you-can-tap-a-norway-maple/
pete
anybody ever try sassafras. the roots and leaves are good so it would depend on if sap would flow enough.
Nancy
All parts of the Sago Palm are a deadly poison.
So a really really BAD idea to tap one for sap.
Carol the Dabbler
When I was in Girl Scouts, we were warned not to use wild cherry sticks for roasting our hot dogs, because the wood is poison. I’m not entirely certain that’s true, but I have definitely heard that livestock can be poisoned by eating the leaves. So I’d be very hesitant to tap ANY kind of cherry tree, or anything (peach, plum) in that family, unless you get authoritative information that it’s safe.
I was also gonna say that the person who recommended tapping poplar trees might not have been talking about cottonwood and such, but rather tulip trees (AKA “tulip poplar”), which is actually in the magnolia family. But several people seem to have beat me to it!
Cloie Haffa
I’m in Southern Texas. I was wondering if you could tap pecan trees. We have lot of them.
Clayton
Can you tap pine trees
B
My husband is allergic to birch trees. He is good with his hands and is a skilled wood worker. When he works with birch trees he has allergic reactions. He avoids bucking it up for fire wood for the same reason; burning it flares up his allergies.
Teresa
Tapped Boxelder for the first time this year. It was late in the season so I didn’t get very much but what I did harvest was fantastic.
Kasper
Is it possible to tap spruce trees for their sap? I don’t want to consume the sap, but collect it for other purposes. How would I go about tapping a tree? I don’t even know where to get the equipment to do that. Thanks.
Joel
Just read your article on sap producing trees. I’ve read several over the years and I found yours to be very accurate and in line with what I’ve learned about maple syrup production over the 45 years I’ve been producing. It’s always nice when people have the facts straight. Great article and very well written.
Admin
Thank you!
Kasper
Can’t remember if I’ve posted before — if I have, please forgive. Is it possible to tap spruce trees, like Christmas trees? I don’t want to eat or drink the sap, just to gather and dry it into beads. Is there a way to do this? Thanks.
Ashley Adamant
Yes, that is done sometimes to collect resin for various uses (medicinal, etc). It’s not usually “tapped” with a spile, but rather just slashed on the bark and then collected as it oozes out. There’s pictures of that here: https://practicalselfreliance.com/edible-pine/
Kasper
@ Ashley Adamant — Thank you! I had no idea that so many varieties of pine were edible. I am actually interested in growing some spruce trees and then drying some spruce sap to turn into granules to use for incense. I’m old now and my bones are getting creaky, and I sometimes feel the sentimental need for some connection back to “home.” When I was a youth, our Episcopal priest used spruce to make the incense used at every service at our vibrant little rural parish. There are times when I think it would be nice to enjoy that wonderful uplifting scent again, although I live far from there now and most everyone I knew back then is now dead. Thank you!
Someclown
Hello, I was wondering about tapping tamarack trees as it’s a tree which looses its foliage over winter and comes back in spring. Would this tree make edible sap
Thanks
David
I’ve also been wondering about this. Apparently tamarack sap has been described as about as sweet as maple when chewed as gum. I haven’t found any specifics on its sap-to-syrup ratio or whether it would be viable for making syrup. According to a book I read about Canadian indigenous peoples’ plant foods, tamarack sap was scraped off and eaten by the James Bay Cree. Also, tamaracks’ close relative the Western Larch was hollowed out by Natives for its sap, which was then either drunk as a juice or left to evaporate as syrup and used as a sweetener. I can’t verify the flavour though (“sweet” back then could mean “tart” to the modern palate). I can’t find anything about larch syrup anywhere. It’s like no one’s tried it since.
Brandon Hurd
Any news on the Linden Tree tapping? Success? Any temperature requirements for the syrup to run?
Ashley Adamant
I have yet to get a linden tree to actually run, but I’ve heard from several people that they’ve had success (though with no accompanying details). This one’s still a mystery to me, and I wonder if maybe it has to do with the type of linden? Maybe the linden trees we have around here just need a vacuum to pull the sap (like beech trees apparently do), but maybe some in other areas don’t since it seems like backyard tappers are having success with them elsewhere. Either way, nothing to report from me unfortunately!
Perfect Plants
This is a great article and very informative. I’ve been planning on getting a maple tree that was good for the syrup so now I have a few options.
Tony in PA
American Yellowwood is a tree that would probably produce a large quantity of sap. It is a relatively rare tree, but is planted as a landscape specimen. Not sure about potential toxicity as it is a nitrogen fixing tree.
Gilbert
My wife said that when she was young, they would use a knife and cut pieces of the resin from SPRUCE trees and chew on it like gum.
They could chew the same piece for a couple hours and almost blow a bubble, like bubble gum.
Jerry Gunsalus
I’m interested in trees that can be tapped for sap that can be distilled for essential oils . Like tea tree oil, anything?
Ashley Adamant
I’m no help there unfortunately. I think tea tree oil is actually distilled (not tapped) from the wood.
René Bertin
Basic question here: at what angle do you tap? The instructions with my set of taps say to drill a hole “angled 15° upwards” which I assumed means the tap goes in downwards. Against the flow, seems to make sense, but have a tap that lets the sap run out with gravity also seems to make sense…
Ashley Adamant
You tap so the hole has a slight downward slope so that the sap can flow out. When you’re drilling, you drill in upwards, so that the back of the hole inside the tree is higher than the front where the tap comes out. The instructions are right, but just hard to interpret. You’re drilling “upwards” into the tree, so that the tap is slightly angled downwards as the sap comes out. That allows the sap to gravity flow out of the hole.
René Bertin
Thanks. I was afraid of that, but the pressure is clearly enough to let the sap flow anyway. I’ll know for the next time, it’s probably not a good idea to tap new holes (trunks are 20″ in diameter at most).
Ashley Adamant
Yup, it’ll still bubble up and flow out and work well enough for this year. Enjoy your syrup!
René Bertin
Yep, it’s working fine, by tonight I expect about 1l from the 2 taps on the 2 trees.
Is it normal that the liquid is almost perfectly clear – does the golden brown colour we all know result from boiling or caramelisation of sugars against the vessel bottom where it’s being heated?
Administrator
Yes, the sap will be clear when it comes out of the tree and will darken as it is processed.
René Bertin
Actually, these oppositely angled tap holes dried up very quickly after the temperatures dropped again. Now, after re-tapping at the right angle and approx. 2″ deep (rather than the suggested 1″; 5.5mm drill bit) I’m getting roughly 3l a day from the 3 taps in what I call my trinity tree.
About boiling…. I don’t know if this is the most appropriate post to ask, but what would be the most efficient approach if you don’t have a big vat for storing the raw sap? Using a 2000W induction hub and our widest soup pan I find that it takes less than 2h to boil those 3l down to I think around 400ml (a big marmelade jar; with the hub running on 1000W after starting the boil, outside, with a stainless deepfrying screen on the pan to prevent dirt from getting in). Over the last 2 days I’ve added the production from the previous day to the boil once the new production reached that same volume and then continue boiling until I’m back at around 400ml. So I must now be at somewhere between 24 and 30x concentration (and my jar no longer looks like it contains something I could have produced myself 😉 ) – I think 40x would be the goal?
I’m pretty certain that the concentration speed increases as water is boiled off and the boiling volume decreases, and I *think* that an induction hub should be as efficient (or even more so) than using a big gas burner and propane. If I’m wrong, or if repeated cooking like this destroys all the good things syrup could contain then I’d love to hear about it!
Ashley Adamant
I’ve heard that re-cooking syrup can cause it to darken, as in re-boiling it over and over day after day until the final correct concentration as you describe. That said, I do that too when we don’t have quite enough. We’ll boil it down, then store it off until we have more and keep going, and I can’t say that I’ve noticed a big difference.
As to where to store the sap, we usually keep it in 5-gallon buckets until we’re ready to boil. In syrup season it stays cool at night and we keep it in the shade during the day, but still, we don’t store it for more than 2-3 days because it’ll start to ferment.
Best of luck!
Blake Minten
what about beach trees?
Administrator
Apparently, you can tap beech trees as well. Here is an article that I found explaining the process. https://www.themaplenews.com/story/beech-syrup-can-add-value-to-your-operation-out-of-pesky-trees/320/
René Bertin
In parts of the Netherlands people will cut a few branches in spring and catch the sap coming out in a bottle they hang from the branch. AFAIK this is mostly for direct consumption.
Lynn
I would be hesitant to use elderberry for a tap. All my resources say that all parts of the elderberry are toxic with exception of the berries. Though some resources recommend boiling the berries as some people find the raw ones cause gastric upset.
Administrator
There are several sources that I found that suggest the use of elderberry for this purpose but you can always use another type of wood for your taps if you aren’t comfortable using elderberry.
Heather Westley
Great article and informative! Love the comments. We are wondering about Aspen trees (particularly Quacking Aspen). Any info on timing and quality of aspen sap?
Administrator
I don’t have a lot of information on that one. If you find something be sure to come back and let us know.
Steve
I tapped white birch last year for the first time. It’s a slow process and does have a tangy taste. Love it as a marinade. Made it with my maple syrup pan after boiling maple sap. I was amazed at how the birch sap actually cleaned the brown stain from the pan. You say it is more acidic, so I suppose that explains it. Going to try again this year. I’m in Michigan
Sabrina
Math is hard for a visual like me, I’d like to see a comparison like 1 quart = x bucket or x jug of milk or something
Doubleknot Ranch Southern Illi ois
We put in 28 taps on our Red Maples in southern IL the second week of January. We collected 60 gallons of sap before they stopped running all of a sudden in Mid February. Buds have all busted so our season is over, but we made some delicious syrup.
susan zalepa
and i’m learning alot of stuff, I didn’t know that you could tap all these trees
Susan
Ann C. McKenzie
I tap walnut trees: the syrup is even better tasting than maple. It has pectin in it which makes it hard to filter. I used folded cheesecloth to get rid of the pectin. You can taste the nut in the syrup. I have to tap more trees to get enough sap. My son-in-law has relatives in Chihuahua Mexico & one has a pecan orchard. I am trying to get him to experiment. Temps may be wrong but worth trying.
I tried making syrup out of grapevine sap; it was sour and not worth the effort.
My birch syrup is good, like molasses, but I have to heat it slowly to avoid burning.
Administrator
Thanks so much for sharing that. The pecan definitely sounds interesting. Let us know if you decide to try it out.
Mike Russo
Regarding sugar sand, I thought that it is a form of sugar that is not water soluble anymore. Non-stoichiometric. It is caused by high temperatures and the need to boil down low yielding sap. Maybe there are particles of minerals that cause the sugar to precipitate out easier.
To that end, I have found that if you freeze a 5 gallon bucket of sap for 8-12 hours you can remove the tube of ice that forms along the sides and top and bottom of the bucket and thereby reduce the water. I do that several times while adding fresh sap. The sugar always diffuses away from the frozen water.
If you freeze it too long the sugar can get stuck in the big crystals of ice inside so i just let it thaw and start over when it’s liquid again. This method saves me a lot of boiling.
I’ve been tapping maple trees for 30 years.
Administrator
This is so interesting. Thank you for sharing.
Grant R
Great Article! I’m hoping to tap the black walnut trees here this spring in Ottawa Ontario. Planning to test aspen as well since I’ve cut young branches and it gets slick with sweet sap. Hopefully I’ll be able to tap the Tamarack(larch) as id be interested to see if being an annual conifer it had any alterations.
For why sap runs in certain freezing temperatures I’ve read that due to the trees walls being rigid it turns it into a pressurized container. The sub zero temperatures cause the tree to contract. With alternating freeze thaw the sap and tree are heated during the day and both expand, when the temperature drops the volume of the tree is decreased from contraction and sap is pumped out by the trees increasing pressure.