Naturalist’s Corner: Maple Discovery

Mar 10, 2020

Posted March 5, 2020

Written by Kyla Isakson

Have you ever wondered how maple syrup is made? Maple syrup starts off as sap harvested from maple trees, typically the sugar maple. Sugar maple is very common in New England and Quebec, Canada. Vermont leads the United States in syrup production, and Quebec produces more maple syrup than all of the U.S. combined! Maple syrup season starts in late winter and early spring, which is when the sap starts to flow as the days warm up.

The process starts by tapping the trees, which includes drilling a hole ½ inch wide and 1 ½ inches deep and inserting a spout for the sap to run out of the tree and into a bucket or pipeline that leads to the sugarhouse. Once all of the sap is collected, it is boiled to remove excess water and concentrate it into syrup. It takes 40 gallons of sap to make just one gallon of syrup! After the sap is boiled down, it is filtered to purify the syrup. After it is filtered, it is bottled or made into candy, butter, cream, or cake. From the trees to the table, the process of maple syrup production is an amazing thing, and it all starts with taking care of forests!

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