The homeschool class at the nature center today was Tapping Sugar Maples. It was a bit cold and rainy, still wonderful to get out in the woods. But you should see my frizzy hair! Oh and the new director at the center is Noah's old science teacher when he was in elementary school. She was happy to see him. Welcome Mrs. McGrath!!!
I added this photo to show Tammy something, I wasn't sure if I got a shot of this but I did. Do you see in the background the lady standing there and next to her is all of those gallon jugs tied to the post? It takes all of those gallons of sap to make one gallon of syrup! Unbelievable!! I wonder why real maple syrup is so expensive?
15 comments:
tapping maple trees...looks like fun...but maybe not so much in the cold and rain. will you go through the whole process of maple syrup?
where is the picture with your frizzy hair...come on...giggle ;)
Hey Tiff, Yes they did go through the whole process. I have pics, but blogger was being as slow as the sap was today, so I only posted one.
To late for the frizzy hair photo, I already showered. Cause I smelled like woodsmoke and the woods!
The homeschool class at your nature center sounds really great. Will Noah get to sample any of the finished product later on down the road?
I like the smell of smoke for a little while but it can feel like a bit much when it's all through your clothes and stuck in your hair. I bet that shower felt great!
Hey Tara,
I was just at your blog!!
Yeah, we tried the sap straight from the tree. Noah said it tasted like wet-nothing. Then we try some finished product. Very Sweet.
We also got a piece of maple sugar candy. We were buzzing after that sugar rush:)
Oh yes the shower felt wonderful, after the cold rain!
How much sap comes from one tree? And how much syrup can be made from that sap? I always wondered, especially after reading the Little House books. It's something I've always wanted to see done.
Hey Tammy, I think the amount of sap depends on the size of the tree and the weather. I added a photo to the post to show you the answer to your next question:)
Oh, WOW... I didn't realize it took so much sap! You are right, no wonder real syrup costs so much. But, it sure is goooood! :)
Rick's grandfather use to have a sugar bush in New Hampshire. WE have great photo's of the oxen carrying sap from around the property. Rick was little when his family would tap the maple trees and then cook it up...it is a pretty amazing process for such a little amount.
There is nothing like real maple syrup!!!!!!!!!!! It's so cool seeing this stuff from here in California!
I LOVE maple syrup .. We just had some for supper poured over a banana split..
... at a Christmas craft fair a lovely lady traded us a large bottle of her syrup for some of our jewelry.. Yumm!! good trade..
We have a living history farm that does this and it is a very popular program for school groups. We've never been but it sounds fun and educational!
Don keeps threatening to tap our maples, but we didn't do it again this year. One day.
I laughed at your frizzy hair, because that's exactly what happens to mine in that kind of weather.
Wow, it's windy today!
I am so ignorant about these things, how do you get the sap into so many pots? Are there straw-like feeds into the jars? Then how does it change from a ' nothing' taste to tasting like maple syrup? Is something added? School seems such a long time ago!
Hey Tiff, that is so neat. What a great life experience!
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Hey Lisa,
I learned that maple syrup is only produced in North Eastern America and part of Canada, no where else in the world!
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Yum Gwen! Trading is a good thing!
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Hey Kel, you should give it a try someday. I would love to visit a living farm.
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Hi Ruth, You really need patience when tapping maples:)
A big limb from Sniffy's tree hit our roof at 4:00am. All is well, it just woke us all with a fright!
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Hello Delphine,
Well lets see. They tap into the trees (many, many trees) with a metal tap/spout and the sap which is watery drips out into collection buckets. Then they pour all the collected sap into a big vat with a fire under it and boil it. The water evaporates and leaves the thick sweet syrup. On one end of the vat there is a spout you can turn on and off to get the syrup into the bottles. Nothing is added to it. Oh yes, the lighter the syrup the better it taste. So we were told:)
What a small world! There is a lot of maple tapping around here (in Oh)as well. We even have a few sugar maples in our yard and have talked about doing this sometime. There is nothing like sweet fresh maple syrup! YUM!!
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