jimintoronto
Well-known Member
Its that time of year, again. The sugar maple harvest has begun. When the over night temp is around minus 5 Celsius, and the day time temp is around plus 5 C, the sap begins to run in the trunks of the sugar maple trees in Eastern Canada. A long time ago, the collection of sap was done by drilling the trunk of each tree, and installing a sap tap, which drained into individual galvanized metal buckets, which had metal cover on them. The buckets would be carried to the sugar shack by hand or on a house drawn wagon.
Today, a modern commercial maple syrup sap operation has taps, but instead of buckets, the farmers run plastic food grade pipes from each tree to a central collection point, in a building called a "Sugar Shack ". The raw sap is about 90 percent water, and ten percent sugar. In the shack, the sap is boiled in large stainless steel evaporators, to get rid of the water content. Canada supplies about 80 percent of the world supply of maple syrup products.
It takes 40 liters of raw sap, to make ONE liter of finished maple syrup. Yes a 40 to one ratio once the boil down stages have been completed. Maple syrup comes in three grades, light, medium, and dark. A typical maple syrup farm may have as many as 200 trees being tapped each year. Maple syrup is a 100 percent natural food product.
Today, a modern commercial maple syrup sap operation has taps, but instead of buckets, the farmers run plastic food grade pipes from each tree to a central collection point, in a building called a "Sugar Shack ". The raw sap is about 90 percent water, and ten percent sugar. In the shack, the sap is boiled in large stainless steel evaporators, to get rid of the water content. Canada supplies about 80 percent of the world supply of maple syrup products.
It takes 40 liters of raw sap, to make ONE liter of finished maple syrup. Yes a 40 to one ratio once the boil down stages have been completed. Maple syrup comes in three grades, light, medium, and dark. A typical maple syrup farm may have as many as 200 trees being tapped each year. Maple syrup is a 100 percent natural food product.