Maple Month

[mafief]

March is maple month where I live. The maple sugar shacks open their doors and we can see how maple syrup is made. We’ve taken the kids for the past few years and managed to go to the tail end of this year. This year the kids watched a Curious George episode and were very excited to see a sugar shack, so that worked out well.


Tapped maple tree. They are using hoses instead of aluminum pails and collect the sap in large bins.


Raw sugar maple sap. When you see a small amount of it, it looks clear. However, when you are storing 1500 gallons like you see here, it's apparent that the sap is not clear.


Evaporator in use. The sap contains a very small percentage of sugar. The water is removed by boiling which produces a lot of steam. They will boil to certain concentration of sugar and then pull it off.


Finished product. The different colors correspond to different grades. Some grades are produced towards the end of the season and have a very strong flavor.

Comments

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

Very interesting! I'm glad the kids had a good time!

[mafief]

They did :). They usually come for the syrup and the tractors they see on the farms. This year, we got to see a small potato harvester and a bean combine. Some places hand out free samples while others even have pancake breakfast events. So, we try to engage in all things syrup.

Have you ever been to a sugar shack? I know they go as far south as PA, but I'm not sure about further down.

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

Cool!

No, I've not heard of them.

[smallhobbit]

That's really interesting, especially the different colours of syrup.

[mafief]

Syrup grades are neat. Maple syrup starts off clear at the beginning of the season, but darkens as the temperatures warm up. The microorganisms in the tree convert the sugars to other sugars, which is why the colors change after boiling.
It’s a neat process. I’ve never tried making it myself, but maybe I’ll be adventurous one day.

[debriswoman]

This is fascinating...and the colours are beautiful:-)

[mafief]

The sugar shack that I took the pic of was smart - they put the jars in a window. There were probably double the amount of jars that I’ve pictures here and showed a cool history of how the season progressed.

[luthienberen]

Ooo so pretty the grades of maple syrup.

[mafief]

Agreed! It’s one of my favorite pictures.
That sugar shack was lead by an engineer, so they had other cool contraptions there.

[luthienberen]

I can imagine the engineer had a few fabulous tales to tell!

[mafief]

They did! I love talking to engineers and hearing about their process and how they solved problems.

One of my engineering friends is a peony breeder and it’s fun to see how he’s organized and built everything.

[scfrankles]

It's so fascinating to see the process. And like everyone else I love the different colours of the syrup - so gorgeous ^^"

[mafief]

It’s fun to see. I visited them on school field trips years ago and I’m happy I can share it with my kiddos and ya’ll. Have you ever tried maple syrup?

The colors are the best part. I used it as my FB banner because it was so pretty.

[scfrankles]

I don't think I have ever tried maple syrup... Something to put on my list ^__^