They could use their existing equipment to tap other kinds of trees on their land and make more money. It could be useful information for maple syrup producers in the region. work at the University of New Hampshire, he wants to figure out the best trees, other than maple, to tap and make syrup.

“So nothing will replace maples, but it’ll certainly add some value to your operation if you can do it,” he said.Īnd that’s Moore’s goal here. The sugar content for good old maple syrup is far more concentrated - it takes just 40 gallons of maple sap to make a gallon of syrup. Still, he’ll need something like 200 gallons of beech sap to get one gallon of syrup. Moore had more luck tapping a different set of beech trees last year and got a lot more sap. “So this is about what I’ve been getting from these trees.” Inside, a couple of inches of frozen beech sap. Another tube runs through a vacuum pump covered by an inverted plastic bin and into a plastic bucket. Light blue plastic tubes jut out from each of the five beech trees in this stand. Maple and birch, the sap will come out of the tree without a vacuum but other species you need a vacuum.” “So, I have five beech trees tapped here, American beech,” he said. But David Moore is turning centuries of syrup making on its head. A skill no doubt learned from Native Americans in the region who have a long tradition with maple syrup. Those farmers were likely tapping maple trees this time of year.

The path is lined on either side by stone walls built by farmers more than 200 years ago in the typical New England style. LISTEN to the story ĭavid Moore leads the way down a wide dirt path on his farm in Lee, New Hampshire. Living on Earth’s Bobby Bascomb visited syrup producer David Moore in New Hampshire to taste and learn about syrups made from birch, beech, walnut, and other trees. Sugar maples aren’t the only sappy trees that can be tapped to make syrup.

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