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♦ WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 11,2006
From sea to shining sea
Vermont, king of syrup making
Special to the Journal
The sugaring season
Maple syrup making, known
as “sugaring,” takes place
all over the Northeastern
U.S. and Canada just as win
ter is losing its grip. The
maple producers, or “sug
armakers,” look for weath
er that alternates between
freezing and thawing; this is
what makes the sap flow. In
Vermont, sugaring weather
usually starts around the
beginning of March, and
normally lasts for about six
weeks. Snow may lay deep
in the woods at the start
of sugaring, but the warm
sun on the branches of the
maple trees causes the long
dormancy of winter to give
way and the sugaring season
to begin.
Visit a sugaring operation
in the spring and you might
see traditional, or modern
methods of syrup making,
or a combination of the two.
Regardless of the methods
used, the basic principles
are the same for all sug
armakers: sap is collected
from trees, and then water
is removed, mostly by boil
ing, to concentrate it into
syrup. Nothing is added, and
nothing is removed except
pure water.
Maple sap
It all starts with maple sap.
In the spring, maple sap
contains a small quantity of
the sugar sucrose. Sucrose
concentration in sap is usu
ally about 2% by weight,
although this varies from
tree to tree and ranges from
1% to over 4%. In addition,
enzymes and other materi
als from the tree are pres
ent in very small quantities;
these are what will give the
syrup its unique maple fla
vor. Sap is collected by drill
ing one or more holes, called
“tapholes,” into the trunk
of the tree. The tapholes are
small, usually just 5/16” in
diameter and only about 2”
deep, and the sugarmaker
takes great care to drill the
holes sparingly so that the
trees are not damaged and
will continue to thrive for
many generations. Trees that
are about 10” in diameter (a
sugar maple takes 40 years
to reach this size) to 18” in
diameter have one taphole;
while larger trees may have
2 or 3 tapholes. Each hole is
fitted with a plastic or metal
spout so that the sap doesn’t
just run down the bark. The
spout goes into the tree for a
short distance, and conducts
the sap into a bucket or into
plastic tubing. The sap will
drip from a hole in the tree
when the weather condi
tions are right. A freeze will
draw water into the roots
from the soil and cause a
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Vermont is king of syrup making.
small suction to be present
in the wood. When the wood
thaws, the sap is under pres
sure for a while and sap will
emerge from the taphole.
Collecting sap with buckets
In Vermont, you might find
sugarmakers who collect sap
from 100 tapholes, or from
40,000. All the tapped trees
together constitute the “sug
arbush.” The traditional
method of collecting sap is to
hang a bucket on the metal
spout. The sap fills the buck
et, and every day, or several
times a day, someone must
empty the sap into a gather
ing tank on a tractor-drawn
wagon, or perhaps a horse
drawn sleigh. This method
is still used in many sugar
bushes, especially those that
have enough labor to empty
all the buckets, or where
land is very flat, or trees
are too spread out to make
plastic tubing practical. You
will rarely see horses in the
woods at sugaring time any
more.
Collecting sap with tubing
The more common method
today is to collect sap with
a network of plastic tubing
that brings the liquid to a
large collection tank. This
saves the labor of going to
every tree to gather the sap.
Small diameter tubing runs
from tree to tree, joining
larger tubes called pipeline,
or mainline, which conducts
the sap downhill toward the
tank. Many sugarmakers
augment the flow of sap by
attaching a vacuum pump to
the tubing. This helps keep
the sap moving in the tub
ing, so that it arrives cold
and clear at the sugarhouse.
Vacuum also increases sap
yield from each taphole,
compared to the yield from
buckets. Installing a tubing
system can be a consider
able undertaking for skilled
individuals. Most tubing sys
tems are left in the woods
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year round, and the sug
armaker will spend many
hours maintaining the sys
tem during the summer and
fall, clearing fallen limbs
and looking for animal dam
age. This continues right
through the sugaring sea
son, when it is necessary to
constantly check the whole
system for any leaks that
might appear.
The sugarhouse
Whether by tubing, horse
drawn sleigh, or other
means, the sap eventually
ends up at the sugarhouse.
The sugarhouse is the build
ing where the evapora
tor is located, along with
other equipment that may
be used for syrup making.
Some sugarhouses are quite
small and rustic, with room
for the evaporator and 2 or
3 visitors, while others are
large and modern and might
contain, in addition to the
syrup making equipment,
a large kitchen for canning
syrup and making maple
candy and other products.
Every sugarhouse will have
a cupola or large stainless
steel chimneys to exhaust
the great quantities of steam
that are produced from the
boiling sap; it is the sight
of this steam that lets you
know that an evaporator is
fired up and the sugarmaker
is making syrup.
Boiling the sap
Once the sap arrives at
the sugarhouse, it must be
boiled as soon as possible.
Warm sap begins to break
down, which will make dark
er, stronger tasting syrup;
if not boiled soon enough,
the sap begins to spoil. The
boiling takes place in an
evaporator, which consists of
rectangular metal pans that
sit on a large base called an
arch, where the heat source
is located. The evaporator
may be as small as 2 feet
wide by 4 feet long, or as
FOOD
Special to the Journal
large as 6’ x 20’, depending
on the number of trees that
are tapped in the sugarbush.
Traditionally, sugarmakers
burned wood in the arch to
create the heat for boiling;
today, many maple produc
ers use oil as a heat source
because it is convenient, and
its use means less work than
preparing the firewood. In
any case, a very hot fire is
needed to evaporate water
from the sap.
In the evaporator, the
sap follows a winding path
through the pans as it boils
and becomes denser and
closer to finished syrup. The
sap first enters into the back
or “flue” pan, which has
deep channels, or flues, to
maximize contact between
the sap and the heat. The
boiling is very vigorous and
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great quantities of steam
are produced. Special float
valves allow more sap to
continually enter the flue
pan as water is evaporat
ed from the sap, and this
keeps the sap level just right
for efficient boiling. The
sap then enters the front,
or “syrup” pan, which is
divided by metal partitions
into 3 or more compart
ments, open at each end. As
the sap moves through the
syrup pan, it continues to
increase in density as more
and more water is boiled off.
When it reaches the end of
the pathway, and is at just
the right temperature (7.1
degrees above the boiling
point of water) and density
(66.9% sugar) the sap has
turned to pure maple syrup
The sugarmaker must now
open a valve and draw off a
batch of this liquid from his
pan before it gets even more
dense and burns.
Finishing the syrup
Once a batch of syrup has
been drawn off, there are
several more steps before it
is stored. First, it is checked
for the proper density (sugar
content) with an instru
ment called a hydrometer.
The hydrometer is floated
in a cup of syrup, and it is
calibrated to balance at a
certain point when the den
sity of syrup is correct. After
this, the syrup must be fil
tered to remove a gritty sub
stance called “sugar sand”
or “niter.” Sugar sand is a
natural, harmless material
made of minerals from the
maple tree that precipitate
in the syrup pan as the sap
is boiled. To remove it, the
hot syrup is passed through
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a wool cone filter or pushed
by a pump through a fil
ter press. It comes out clear
and golden, ready to be con
sumed, or packaged. Now
the syrup is taste tested and
color graded, to determine
which of the Vermont grades
(Fancy, Medium Amber,
Dark Amber, or B) will be
on the label. At this point
the sugarmaker will usually
fill a steel drum with the hot
syrup, to be stored and then
opened later for repacking
into small retail containers.
New technology
In a modern sugarhouse you
may also see some of the
new technology that helps
the sugarmaker be more
efficient in his syrup pro
duction. One of the most
interesting pieces of equip
ment is the reverse osmosis
machine. This works like a
water purifier in reverse,
pushing the sap through a
fine membrane to separate
pure water from the sugar,
and thus concentrate the sap
before it is boiled. Reverse
osmosis can remove % of the
water from sap, which saves
the sugarmaker a great deal
of time in boiling. Another
modern innovation is the
steam recovery device; which
is a large metal box that
sits over the flue pan and
uses the tremendous steam
energy rising from the pan
to preheat the incoming sap,
and start the evaporation
process. In addition, this
becomes a source of clean
hot water. Some sugarmak
ers use an electronic instru
ment that can open the draw
off valve at just the right
time for the
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