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29-05-2005, 01:06 PM

(Bro Jack) wrote in
:

Is the sap of other maples suitable for maple syrup, in
terms of quality and quantity of sap produced? If so, it
would seem to make more sense to plant faster growing
maples like the red and even the ugly silver maples.

red maple makes great syrup. takes a bit more sap to make a
gallon of syrup but most sugarbushes in the northeast are
tapping both sugar & red maples. you can get more sap out of a
red maple but the sugar content is usually lower (but sugar
content depends a lot on the weather)
silver maples are crap for syrup & norway maples are just
evil.

What about other hardwoods for making syrup, such as fast
growing red and pin oaks, wild cherry, etc.? Jack

birch, yellow & river(black), make a good syrup. oaks don't
have enough sugars in thier sap to bother with (the sap is
bitter if you taste it). i suspect wild cherry is in the same
camp as oak, plus there is the toxicity issue.
lee