Merchantville's Maple Project is up and as of 2/2/25 the sap is running. We have 10 volunteer teams collecting from 49 sugar maple trees on municipal property and 4 additional trees on homeowner property. Volunteers are checking buckets daily, collecting the sap daily while it's flowing and pouring off into 5 and 6-gallon storage buckets beneath the back deck at the Community Center. They check sap for any risk of spoilage to make sure it is clear and odorless. If it has a cloudy or yellow appearance, a foul odor,
or a milky consistency; or smells fermented or yeasty it gets tossed. This usually only happens when the weather is above 45 degress for a number of days - much like milk spoils. We store the sap in our clean, food-grade 5-gallon buckets and when we accumulate more than 30 gallons pour off into a holding tank. Keep the sap cool: Treat the sap like milk, as it spoils quickly. Keep it below 40°F. If you find a cap or block of ice in tree buckets found when collecting. It can be used in the 5-gallon collection bucket to keep the sap below 40°F until evaporation and boiling takes place. Right now keeping our stored sap cool with a block of frozen sap appears to be the best/easiest option. Here's a video about this method: We are looking into refrigeration/freezer options.