From Maple Tree to Maple Syrup Facts

By Deborah Tukua
www.hollycreekbooks.com

March is the month that the sap runs in Maple trees. Without a slow transition from winter to spring, we’d have no maple syrup in this country. So, if you love maple syrup like we do, well something good and very sweet does come out of a lazy spring start.

Did you know that…

…a maple tree can yield sap (used for making syrup) for 100 years?

…a maple tree must be around 45 years old before it is tapped for syrup making?

…it takes an average of 40 gallons of sap to produce one gallon of syrup?

…although maple trees are found in other continents, no other continent’s maples can compare in sweetness to the sugar maple trees in North America.

…frosty nights and warm sunny days encourage the sap to flow.

…when buds appear on the trees, in late March or April, the sap turns bitter in flavor.

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