Maple Syrup

Maple syrup is an agricultural product that has been made for generations by boiling sap from maple trees. Sap can only be collected in when the temperatures fall below freezing at night and rise above freezing during the day, which limits maple syrup production to early spring in the northern United States and Canada. Although there are over 13 species of maple trees native to North America, sugar maple trees produce the highest concentration of sugar in their sap, making them the preferred species for sugarmaking. As a hardwood species, sugar maple trees tend to grow slowly, and generally reach a large enough diameter to use for sugarmaking by the time they are 40 years old. To collect sap, sugar makers drill small hole - about 1/4 inch in diameter - through the bark of the tree. We tap about 1,100 sugar maple trees per year with one tap each. Although the larger trees could support more taps, it is important to us to support the health and longevity of our sugarwoods.

The indigenous people who were the first sugarmakers collected the sap at each tree in clay pots or birch bark baskets. Today, we use plastic spouts and tubing that allow the sap to travel from the trees to the sugarhouse. When the sap reaches the sugarhouse, it is mostly water and is 1-2% sugar - a long way from finished syrup, which is about 68% sugar (Vermont syrup must be 66.9-68.9⁰ Brix @ 60⁰F)! We used to put the sap directly into the evaporator, where we boiled around the clock with many family members working in shifts. Now, we remove some of the extra water first by processing the sap through a reverse osmosis machine until the sap is 12-14% sugar. By concentrating the sap, the reverse osmosis reduces the amount of time the sap needs to boil and the amount of fuel needed to fire the evaporator. By the time we have finished boiling, it takes between 43 and 86 gallons of sap to make 1 gallon of syrup.

However, not all syrup is equal! The color of maple syrup becomes darker as springtime temperatures rise and sap sugar content decreases through the sugarmaking season. In 2014, Vermont officially adopted a new maple syrup grading system, which categorizes syrup based on the amount of light that can pass through a syrup sample. The lightest syrup has 75% or greater light transmittance, and the darkest has 25% or less. The flavor of the maple syrup also gets stronger as the color gets darker. By the time you’re choosing which maple syrup to put on your pancakes or use in your cooking, it comes down to personal preference. It’s all delicious - it’s no wonder that maple is the Official Flavor of Vermont!

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