Maple Syrup Season

Maple syrup is sweet food liquid product that is roughly 67% sugar and 33% water.  It is a product farmed by tapping sugar maples in the late winter when the sap runs.  Maple sap is traditionally harvested via a tap that flows sap into bucket.  Larger producers channel the sap from the taps into networks of tubes that allow the sap to run down hill into collection containers.  The sap flows for somewhere between four and six weeks.    To produce the maple syrup, the sap is cooked to evaporate the water from the sap which originally had 98% water and 2% sugar. Maple trees on average produce 5 to 15 US gallons (20 to 60 liters) of sap in a season. 

The formula for the amount of maple syrup from sap is:

      MS = SAP / StS

where:

• MS = Volume of Maple Syrup
• SAP = Volume of Maple Tree Sap
• StS = Sap to Syrup ratio which ranges from 20 to 60 depending on local conditions and the different variety of trees. The ratio of sap to syrup (67% sugar) is 40 gallons of sap to 1 gallon of syrup for sugar maples under normal conditions.  

Based on the number of taps, sap to syrup production rate and the current market value of syrup, one can calculate the value of a maple syrup harvest.  

The formula for the Value of Maple Syrup Harvest is:

      MSV = n * YPT * DPG

where:

• MSV = Value of Maple Syrup Harvest
• n = Number of Maple Tree taps
• YPT = Yield per Tap
• DPG = Dollars per Gallon of Maple Syrup 

Maple sap is traditionally harvested via a tap that flows sap into bucket.  Larger producers channel the sap from the taps into networks of tubs that allow the sap to run down hill into collection containers.  Based on the number of taps, sap to syrup production rate and the current market value of syrup, one can calculate the value of a maple syrup harvest.

Maple Syrup Calculators

• Volume of Maple Syrup from Sap
• Value of Maple Syrup Harvest
• Density of Maple Syrup
• It's Maple Syrup Season (blog)

Maple Syrup Yield

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Crop Production 2022 Summary reports the following Yield per Tap for Maple Syrup on page 91.

As of 4 July 2022, the Dollar per Gallon commodity price for maple syrup was reported at $35.90/gallon.  As of 15 February 2023, Walmart.com was advertises its Great Value brand of pure maple syrup at $15.98 per 32 fl oz (1 quart), which is $63.92 per gallon.  This is unchanged from January of 2022 in stark contrast to the inflation seen elsewhere.