It seems every year I'm driving along and see a little sign saying "Maple Sugar -->" and as soon as I see it, I know I'm too late. I have literally wanted to witness the process of making Maple Sugar for at least 5 years now. This year, thanks to the stars aligning, I was finally able to bring my dream to fruition! Lisa Rose Starner wrote a wonderful piece in The Rapidian last week that re-sparked my interest in maple syrup. Then, as I was driving home from the outskirts of Ada (Bailey) I saw that same little sign and immediately got worried that I had missed all the seasons syrup festivities yet again. I zipped down Buttrick Ave and ran inside to grab my computer. Quick, Lisa, tell me that all hope is not lost!
That's when I saw it, Blandford Nature Center was having their Sugarbush Tours THAT DAY. It was 2:45. They were going from noon-4:00pm. I live 30 minutes away. I quick called and they fit me and a guest into the 4 o'clock timeslot. Life was good.
I called my Aunt Kathy (shortly to be renamed Aunt Jemima) who lives in Caledonia and we both immediately threw on our rainboots and headed toward our tasty tour!
Here is what I learned on this perfect little tour on the first sunny Saturday of Spring:
- "Maddogs" are trees that have branches that grow opposite of each other (vs. alternating branches). The three local tree's that are the most common mad dogs are - Maple, Ash & Dogwood
- Sap is clear when it comes out of the tree. It looks exactly like water. Probably, because it is 97% water, and only 3% sugar.
- Maple syrup is 100% pure sap & heat. Once the sap is heated and the water evaporates, the sap becomes carmalized which gives it the brown color it is recognized by. Once the sap has been reduced to 66% sugar, it is now maple syrup. If you continue to evaporate the water out it will eventually become maple sugar.
- A sugar maple should be 40 years old before it is ever tapped.
- The stint that the sap drips out of is only around the size of my pinky. Or you're pinky too, probably.
- The sugar maple needs to be at least 10 inches before it can be tapped with one bucket. It should be 18inches before adding an additional bucket.
- 1 tap gets around 10 gallons of sap per season.
- It takes 40 gallons of sap to make 1 gallon of maple syrup
And just as a side note, yesterday for dessert we had vanilla ice cream with hot maple syrup and it was fan.tas.tic!