John R. Park: Maple Syrup

Today we had a ton of fun and learned a lot about how maple syrup is made when we visited John R. Park today! Thanks to all the parents who were able to chaperone!

Here are some of the things we learned:

• only Sugar Maples can make the sap that creates syrup
• a maple tree has branches that point down and lots of big branches that comes out of the same spot on the trunk.
• only the green leaves produce sugar to make the syrup
• maple syrup is made almost exclusively in Canada (Ontario/Quebec)
• it takes 40 jars of sap to make one bottle of syrup
• each tree can produce about 2 buckets of sap a day
• the sap is collected using a tap
• the sap is clear and looks like water when it comes out of the tree
• the sap is boiled to evaporate the water and leave just the sugar behind. That's when it starts to turn a golden brown colour.
• children would help carry the buckets of sap to the fire to be heated (we got to try it today!)
• holes are drilled in the tree for the tap to get the sap. We got to try using the special drill.
• you can make maple butter and sugar using the sap too
• we got to taste test some maple candy. It was yummy and sweet!