Peter Schaden, owner of the End of the Commons General Store, the oldest general store in Ohio, checks the fire underneath a sap boiler Saturday. Staff photo / Renee Fox

MESOPOTAMIA — The business of boiling sap to make maple syrup requires patience and consistent, hot fire.

Peter Schaden, owner of the End of the Commons General Store, the oldest general store in Ohio, said Saturday he demonstrates sap boiling outside of the shop to help others learn the process.

Those with access to at least five good taps can produce enough sap to make it worth purchasing a sap boiler.

Harvesting sap has to be done at a particular time of the year. The temperature during the day has to rise to at least 50 degrees, but sink below freezing in the evening for the sap to flow, Schaden said. Sap collection ends when trees begin to bud, because sap collected after a tree buds is rancid, he said.

Schaden said he brings in an “expert” syrup maker to assist on sap boiling days. Brad Baker objected to the term “expert,” but Schaden said the term is justified.

Baker said the best way to identify trees to tap is to look them over later in the season when they have leaves.

“You can look at the leaves and figure out which type of maple it is — hard or soft. You can get sap from both of them, but the soft bud earlier. Then, you mark them or tie them with a ribbon so you know which tree to try when it is time,” Baker said.

Trees selected should be at least 10 to 12 inches in diameter, Baker said. With a large enough tree — and the tree ought to be quite substantial — a person can tap it in three places at once, hanging a bucket from each tap. A sap bucket is filled in about a day.

Schaden said the taps should be staggered over the tree’s trunks, because continually placing taps in a circle around the trunk will strangle the tree.

Once the sap is collected, it is time to boil. Boiling the sap removes the water, leaving behind the concentrated, sugary syrup.

And there is a lot of boiling to do.

If a collection is 2 percent sap, 42 gallons of it have to be boiled away to produce one gallon of syrup, Baker said. It would take about eight hours. The higher concentration of sap in the original collection, the less time it takes to boil.

The sap starts the process as a clear liquid, and slowly becomes more concentrated. As a tasty treat, Schaden allows visitors to sample a “shot” of the liquid once it is 40 percent sap. It is not as thick as the finished product, which is at 66 percent sap. It is the color of whisky and sips like a sweet liquid.

Baker said some are surprised to learn the process does not add anything to make the syrup, it is simply a matter of removing the water.

But, amateurs should know, never boil the sap indoors because of how much moisture is evaporated away in the process.

In one incident, a woman’s kitchen ceiling fell in on the stove after years of boiling sap inside, Baker said.

Any type of hard wood can fuel the fire for the boil, but the flames should be kept consistently hot in order to keep the process on track, Baker said. Baker and Schaden were adding ash wood every three minutes to their boiler.

The syrup can be made into granulated sugar, into candy, into cotton candy and numerous other treats.

rfox@tribtoday.com