The Stephens Group, Inc
51 Dorset Lane Suite 10 Williston, VT 05494
Tel: (802) 878-5665 | (800) 639-4042
Fax: (802) 878-6543
History of Maple Sugaring
How is Maple Syrup Made?
Maple syrup is made by concentrating the slightly sweet sap of the sugar maple tree. There is no set time each spring for sugar makers tap their trees. The best "Sugar Weather" is when the nights are below freezing and the days are mild. This type of weather makes sap flow.
When the time is right the sugar maker taps his trees. Taping involves drilling holes into the tree. The holes are drilled 7/16 of an inch in diameter, and 3 inches deep into the wood. Either metal buckets or plastic tubing is used, the tubing acts as a pipeline system.
The sugar maple must be 10 inches in diamter and in good health before it can be tapped. It takes about 40 years before a tree will reach tapping size. Larger trees can have up to three taps per tree. If proper tapping procedures are followed the trees will not be harmed. A healthy tree can provide sap every year for hundreds of years.
Maple sap has a sugar content ranging from 1 to 4 percent. A hydrometer can be used to measure the exact sugar content. To make the freshest syrup, the sap should be boiled as soon as possible after it's collected.
In the sugarhouse, the sap is boiled down in an evaporator. It takes approximately forty gallons of sap to make one gallon of pure maple syrup.
The length of the sugaring season depends on the weather. As the days become warmer and the nights rarely go below freezing, the buds on the branches begin to swell indicating the end of another sugaring season.
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