1. how is maple syrup made? La Cabane à Sucre

2. Every spring thousands of Quebecers flock to the forests where they enjoy a traditional meal of ham, eggs, and crèpes smothered with maple syrup. The whole never-ending meal is not complete until each person has had the joyous opportunity to taste la tire, otherwise known as taffy on snow. With their bellies full, they wander up the snowy mountains, trek through frosty forests or take whimsical sleigh rides.

3. I wonder… How is maple syrup made?

4. Maple syrup comes from... you guessed it... maple trees. But not all maple trees produce sap that is good for making maple syrup. The two best species of maple tree to use are the sugar or rock maple (Acer saccharum) and the black maple (Acer nigrum). The best time to collect the sap from the maple trees is when the temperature is above 0 o Celsius during the day and below 0 o Celsius at night. During those temperatures, the sap moves quickly through the trees. These temperatures usually happen in March or April, which is why we go sugaring off in the spring.

5. To collect the sap from the trees, you need to drill a hole about 5 cm into the tree. Then you place a tap into the hole. To collect the syrup, all you need to do is hang a bucket from the tap. The tree does the rest of the work. Sugar shacks that specialize in the production of maple syrup no longer just use buckets to collect the sap. Now they attach plastic tubing from tree to tree to collect all the sap (although most places still have a few buckets for show). A lot of sap is needed to make maple syrup: it takes about 40 L of sap to make 1 L of maple syrup!

6. To collect the sap from the trees, you need to drill a hole about 5 cm into the tree. Then you place a tap into the hole. To collect the syrup, all you need to do is hang a bucket from the tap. The tree does the rest of the work. Making Maple Syrup Sugar shacks that specialize in the production of maple syrup no longer just use buckets to collect the sap. Now they attach plastic tubing from tree to tree to collect all the sap (although most places still have a few buckets for show). A lot of sap is needed to make maple syrup: it takes about 40 L of sap to make 1 L of maple syrup!

7. Once the sap has started to flow out of the trees and into the buckets, it is time to make maple syrup.The sap that comes out of the maple trees is not nearly sweet enough to make maple syrup. It’s actually very thin - almost like water - except that it has about 2% sugar (sucrose). Evaporation Now the sap gets boiled in a big vat called an evaporator. The sap gets boiled until it becomes thicker and thicker. The water in the sap gets evaporated, but the sugar stays behind. The sap continues to boil until it is hotter than 100 o Celsius and the sap becomes thick.

8. Filtration Once the sap is thick, it may be passed through a filter to remove any impurities. Sedimentation and Decantation Or, the sap may be left to cool completely so the impurities can fall to the bottom. The purified syrup can then we poured off into another container.