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Think of it as the three-toed shape of a turkey track. Maples are one of only four tree species with opposite limb arrangements. Just look for limbs that have “turkey feet” at the end of them. But, in winter when there are no leaves on the tree, it’s still pretty easy. Identifying maples when their leaves are out is easy-just google an image of a maple leaf. Soft maples include a number of maple species (red, big leaf, etc.) All varieties of maples produce sap that can be boiled down to make syrup but the sugar content of hard maples is much higher and contains more of the true maple flavor that pure maple syrup is known for. You’ll hear folks talk of “sugar maples” when referencing the type of tree needed to produce syrup. I’ve got a dozen or so around the yard and that’s all I need for my small-time operation.
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Around here, finding some maples to tap is pretty easy. Obviously, the first ingredient is the most important: Maple trees. Tony Hansen How to Identify The Best Maple Trees For Making Syrup Make sure your drill bit matches the size of the tap you’re using. It’s underwhelming in its sophistication and complexity, but I produce enough syrup each spring to last my family all year, and I even have a few quarts left over to hand out to friends and family. Maple syrup production is a common spring-time “crop” for many farmers, and backwoods sugar shacks (barns or sheds to boil maple sap) are commonplace where I live. I live in southern Michigan in a village known-literally-as the “Sweetest Little Town in Michigan.” It’s a moniker earned by the abundance of maple syrup production in the area and, of course, the not-so-famous maple syrup festival that happens the last weekend of April each year. And if you have maple trees, you have the key ingredient for making maple syrup. If you live just about anywhere east of the Mississippi and north of the Mason Dixon Line, odds are pretty good you’ve got some maple trees nearby. Nothing wrong with that but, as the kids would say, do you even boil bruh? You gather morels in the spring and grow a garden in the summer. So you fancy yourself a self-sufficient sort? You fill the freezer with wild game and fish.