The tap hole is about 5 cm deep in the white sap wood. A 25 cm tree has one tap and larger trees have more taps, up to as many as five for a very large tree. The trees are retapped each year with new tap holes. The best way to determine which syrup is best for you is a taste test. Usually cool weather at the start of the season will result in light syrup.Īs the weather warms the syrup darkens and has a stronger flavour. For example, more fructose will give a darker colour. The colour of maple syrup varies from light to dark, which is determined by the composition of the sap. It takes about 40 litres of sap to make one litre of syrup. The amount of fructose is less than 1% and much lower than in honey or corn syrup. In addition to sugars, sucrose, glucose and fructose, it contains trace amounts of vitamins and minerals. Nothing is added during the process to make maple syrup from sap. Trees can provide us with some of their sap and sugar without ill effect. The larger the crown of leaves on the tree the sweeter the sap. Trees manufacture starch in the summer through photosynthesis. Sap becomes sweet during the cold weather when the starch which is in the root system is converted to sugar. Maple sap is a very complex solution of water, up to 5% sugar and small amounts of the following minerals and vitamins:Įven after the boiling, concentrating and filtering process, some of the nutrients remain in the syrup for you. Trees are like people they need nutrients to grow. Cold nights and warm days create ideal sap weather. The sap runs until the pressure inside the tree is equal to the atmospheric pressure. This causes the gas to expand, putting the sap under pressure and forcing it to run out the tap hole or any other break in the tree’s bark, and back to the roots. When the temperature drops below freezing at night in the spring the gas contracts creating a negative pressure or vacuum inside the tree which pulls the sap up from the roots. The maple tree contains carbon dioxide gas as well as sap. The sap in the Fortune’s sugar bush averages about 2.5% sugar. The amount of sugar in the sap varies from tree to tree and from day to day. Each tap produces enough sap over the season of four weeks to produce one litre of syrup. Maple trees may live to be 300 years old and will have been tapped for 250 years. A tree this size is from 30 to 60 years old. Trees should be 25 cm or 10 inches in diameter before they are tapped so that the tree can recover from the tap wound. Other maples, Acer Nigrum (black maple,) and Acer Rubrum (red maple,) are also tapped. Acer Saccharum, better known as sugar maple or hard maple, produces most of the sap used for syrup. Only three of the thirteen native maple trees in Canada are important in syrup production. Interesting facts about maple trees and maple syrup Maple Trees

What type of maple tree makes syrup