Tapping of maples a sign of spring

HANCOCK, Iowa — The journey from sap to syrup begins Saturday at Botna Bend Park.

For the 17th year, the park will hold a tapping of its silver maple trees.

“It’s a kickoff to spring,” said John Fenner, Botna Bend Park ranger and resident maple syrup expert. “In the wintertime, there’s not a lot of outdoor projects to do. I’m excited to get out there and tap the trees and involve others in the process.”

Gathering sap is an easy — yet arduous — task.

The first step is drilling a hole in the tree with a hand drill. The wider the tree, the more space for tapping. After rinsing out the hole with water to remove wood chips and particles, a silver tap is placed in the hole and a rubber tube is attached to the tap.

It’s then time to step back and watch the sap trickle into a 5-gallon bucket.

“The sap should be flowing,” Fenner said, who noted that warm weather and sun contribute to better sap output.

With the forecast calling for a high of 46 and only a few clouds Saturday, the buckets should be close to full by day’s end.

“It’s one of staff’s favorite events,” said Kelly Dix, environmental educator for Pottawattamie County. “It’s great for all ages. Kids get pretty excited and even lick the sap out of the tube.”

Maple candy will be provided for those who don’t want their sap straight.

Silver maples have a soft wood, which is easily damaged by ice storms and strong winds. Despite the brutal winter, Fenner said, the trees held up nicely.

“We did have ice in the trees, but the sun came out two days later,” Fenner said. “We got lucky.”

When the tap is over, Fenner will have a considerable contribution to the more than 300 gallons of sap he collects during the year. About 40 to 50 gallons of sap is needed to produce a gallon of syrup.

Turning the clear sap into the amber or dark syrups people recognize is a simple process.

Fenner boils the sap in a long, stainless-steel pan in a small wood-fired evaporator. Boiling the sap eliminates most of the water content and also provides its color. Ash and other organic particles are filtered out to produce the finished product.

“Ours is darker than what people are used to,” Fenner said. “It’s 100 percent pure. Just the sap from the trees boiled down. We don’t add any sweeteners.”

The sap from a silver maple has about 3 percent sugar content, lower than that of the sugar and black maple. But it’s plenty sweet, Fenner said.

“(The trees) produce a good sap,” he said. “We’ve always had good syrup with them.”

Fenner’s syrup will be used at Botna Bend’s annual pancake breakfast this August.

There are two scheduled times Saturday for tapping trees — 10 and 11 a.m. — with participants encouraged to pre-register. The cost is $3 if registered and $4 at the door. For information or to register, call 712-328-5834.

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