Nothing sends the sugar levels spiking and fortifies you for those spring water temperatures like a hit of fresh maple syrup. You don't need any specialized equipment to make this delicious staple (on the cheap—it's not just a treat anymore) for your family and friends. Follow these easy instructions.

Dirtbag paddlers used to have to make due with Aunt Jemima's "15% real syrup", or worse, Old Tyme flavoured water. But there's no need to miss out on the real thing; all you need to make a year's supply of pure, sweet syrup for your entire crew is patience, pails and a sharp axe.

Step 1: Collect maple sap. There's maple bush all over central Canada and the States, just find a friend with a bit of land and ask if you can tap his trees. The season runs through March, with peak flows occuring on sunny, warm days following frosty nights.

Tapping involves using a drill to make a hole in the trunk, 'tapping' in a shunt (available at hardware stores like TSC or Home Hardware for a buck a piece), suspending a pail (old, clean ice cream pails work well) beneath it, and waiting...drip, drip, drip. Patience.

Empty the pails every couple of days, store the sap somewhere cool and when you have enough to fill a couple large canoe barrels (which, by the way, make excellent storage tanks), it's time to boil!

Step 2: Boil the sap. Like iron into gold, sap into syrup takes a bit of alchemy and faith. The standard ratio is 40 litres of sap to one litre of syrup. The continuous boil, wood fire method is the most straightforward (and cheap). Build a fire and pour the sap into a large, shallow pan above - the idea is to keep the sap boiling and add more whenever the level drops (water evaporates and leaves behind the sugars, eventually leading to syrup).

This is where the sharp axe—and more patience—comes in. Boiling off a couple hundred litres of syrup takes all day (and night), but don't worry, splitting wood for the fire will keep you from getting too bored. A pie iron (cast iron sandwich toaster) is handy for meals while you work—grilled cheese sammies are as easy as slapping together bread and cheese and roasting in the fire for a minute.

When you've dumped in the last batch of sap and the level in the pan is low,  you're almost there. Drain the pan into containers to bring inside and finish the boil on your stove, where you're less likely to scorch the syrup (spoiling the whole batch—yes, this would be very bad indeed).

It's worth investing in a hydrometer (tells you the right consistency where sap is officially syrup) if you're a stickler, but you can also eyeball it—if it's thick and dark it's probably close enough.

Step 3: Can the boiling hot syrup immediately. This will keep it fresh forever without refridgeration.


Et Voila! Now you are a dirtbag paddler lording over the finest nectar money can buy (and patient hands can make). 


Photos Virginia Marshall