It's the season for Maple Syrup!!

It’s Maple Syrup season!  This is the time of year that is right for tapping trees to get maple syrup!  Where did Maple Syrup come from?  The Native Americans were the first to tap trees and make maple syrup, although there has been some debate about whether that is true.  The Native Americans, since they did not have the pots that would not burn or crack when brought a high temperature before the British came, would freeze the sap, and than collect the thick syrup from the ice.  When the early settlers from England came to America, they picked it up from the Native Americans.  Maple syrup was perfect for the settlers because they did not want to depend on England for their sugar and they could make syrup without British help.  Over time, the settlers developed the Native American ways into their own ways.  For example, the settlers thought that the Native American way of making a big gash in the side of the tree and letting the sap drip down was wasteful of both the tree and the sap.  So they bored little holes in the tree instead. 

So, since it’s maple syrup season, some of you might want to know how to tap trees and make maple syrup.  First you look at the forecast.    Find a stretch of time when the nights are about 20F and the days about 40-45F.  Then you go to a maple tree.  Any maple tree will work but sugar maples produce the most.  Drill a hole in the tree about ½-1 inch deep.  Then you have to find a way to gather the sap.  Some people nail buckets onto the side of the tree and let the sap drip into the bucket.  Other people, like my family, attach tubing to the hole and let the sap drip down the tube into a bucket at the bottom of the tree.  After a few days, you go and collect the sap.  Pour the sap into a big pot and put it over a heat source.  Let the water in the sap boil off for a couple of days.  Sap is about 2% syrup, or in other words, 40 gallons of sap make about 1 gallon of syrup.  After all the excess water is boiled off, you have maple syrup that you can then put in cooking or use as a topping.