Learning how to make Maple Syrup

We had the privilege recently to learn how Maple Syrup is made.  A local Maple Syrup group gave us an informative demonstration about the history of making maple syrup...

From the time of the Algonquin Indians, and the legend of how maple syrup was discovered and shared.

To the earliest ways of collecting...

 How the colonist bought sugar.

An older tree tap.

A more modern tree tap.

 Different styles of buckets used....

Maple sugar.  The way that Native Americans and Colonists would cook down the maple syrup to this form.

 Examining an older pot...and important settler tool.

The Sugar Shack....

Running the evaporator....this smelled wonderful!!!

 Testing to see if it is ready.

 This is a sleeve that sap would go through to strain it.

Did you know that the maple tree can heal itself?  The only tree that can.  These are tree tap examples. The trees heal themselves each year.

They have several hundred trees tapped in this area.  

 The girls even got to practice "tapping" a tree.

Maple syrup facts:

• It's higher in calcium than milk.
• Only made in North America.
• Ohio is 5th in the US for Maple Syrup production.
• Canada (of course) leads in production in North America.
• It takes 40 gallons of sap to make 1 gallon of syrup.
• Maple syrup is made in the spring, when the temperatures gets below freezing at night and above freezing during the day.
• Maple syrup is a great "natural" food. It contains no colors, preservatives or additives.
• A gallon of maple syrup weighs 11 pounds.
• Nothing is added to the sap-only water is evaporated away - to make maple syrup.

Here is a fun blog about maple syrup legends in America:

All Things Maple Syrup...

This was such a yummy trip, and of course we started our next day with pancakes and maple syrup!!