How it Works

From Tree to Table — It’s Easier Than You Think

Our home maple syrup kit gives you everything you need to tap a maple tree in your own backyard and make real, delicious Canadian maple syrup. No sugar bush required. No experience necessary. Just one tree, one kit, and a little patience.

Here’s how it works — in four simple steps.

1 Tap Your Tree

Grab your drill, plus the drill bit and spile from your Sapsuckers™ kit. Drill a small hole into your maple tree (about 1.5–2 inches / 4–5 cm deep), gently tap the spile into the hole, and hang a sap collection bag on the holder underneath. That’s it — you’re tapping.

Which trees work? Sugar Maple is the gold standard — it produces the sweetest sap. But Red Maple and Silver Maple work great too. If you’ve got a maple in your yard, you’re in business.

When should I tap? The sweet spot is late February to early April, when nights drop below freezing and days warm up above zero. That freeze-thaw cycle is what gets the sap flowing. In most of Canada, that means right around Family Day weekend through early spring.

2 Collect the Sap

Check your bag daily. You’ll find it slowly filling with clear sap that looks just like water with a very faint sweetness. Give it a taste — it’s nature’s original sports drink.

How much sap do I need? It takes roughly 40 litres of sap to make 1 litre of maple syrup. That sounds like a lot, but a healthy tree can produce 20–60 litres of sap over a season. Be patient — your tree will deliver.

What’s in the kit? The First Tap™ includes 1 spile, 1 drill bit, 2 sap collection bags, 1 bag holder, a reusable Canadian-made felt filter and step-by-step instructions. The Triple Tap™ includes 3 spiles, 1 drill bit, 5 sap collection bags and 3 bag holders, plus the felt filter and instructions. We’ve done the thinking so you can focus on the tapping.

3 Boil It Down

This is where the magic happens. Pour your collected sap into a large pot and bring it to a boil. The water evaporates, the sugars concentrate, and slowly — over hours — you’re left with real maple syrup.

Outdoors or indoors? We strongly recommend boiling outdoors — on a propane burner, camp stove, or even over a fire pit. Boiling sap produces a lot of steam, and your kitchen walls will thank you for taking it outside. That said, finishing on the stove is totally fine.

How do I know when it’s done? When your sap reaches 219°F (104°C) — that’s 7°F above the boiling point of water — it’s officially maple syrup. A candy thermometer makes this easy — watch it closely in the final stage. Then pour it through the reusable felt filter from your kit to remove any sediment.

4 Bottle & Enjoy

Reheat your filtered syrup to 82–85°C (180–185°F), pour it hot into sterilized glass jars or bottles, cap tightly and tip them upside down for a few minutes to seal. Then label it and admire what you just did. You made real maple syrup. From your backyard. In Canada.

How to store it: Hot-packed, sealed jars keep in a cool, dark cupboard for a year or more. If you didn’t hot-pack it, keep it in the fridge. Once opened, always refrigerate. Full steps are in our Kit Instructions.

What to pour it on: Pancakes. Waffles. French toast. Ice cream. Oatmeal. Yogurt. Your finger. No judgment here. It’s your syrup — you earned it.

Proudly Canadian — From Our Backyard to Yours™