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54 Minnesota Conservation Volunteer

Its a late-winter foo

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For hundreds of years, people have

been making syrup from the sap

of maple trees. If you have a tree in the

maple family in your yard, you can

make syrup for your pancakes too!

Sugar

Trees

From

Sap, a liquid that carries sugar and other nutrients through the inside of trees, is boiled to make

syrup. Boiling evaporates excess water and concentrates the sugar into thick, sweet syrup.

By Teresa Marrone

LeftPage:MaPLeSyruPJar,

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roSe,

DNr;treeSiLhouette,

aMybeyer;

rightPage:DeborahroSe,

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MarchApril 2009 57

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Early Maple Trade

First Sugar Bushes

56 Minnesota Conservation Volunteer

Near Mille Lacs Lake in 1925, two Ojibwe women fill

birch-bark containers with maple syrup and sugar. Long

before Europeans arrived in North America, American

Indians used tree sap to make syrup and sugar.

MiNNeSotahiStoricaLSociety

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58 Minnesota Conservation Volunteer MarchApril 2009 59

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Whats Sap?

Pumping Sap

Which Trees Are Sweet?

Sugar Maple Red Maple

Silver Maple Boxelder

MarchApril 2009 59

Deborah

roSe,

DNr

aMy beyer, DNr

LeaveS:uNiverSityofMiNNeSotaexteNSioNService;treeSiLhouetteS:aMybeyer

On warmdays, sapflows outof holes inthe tree.

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60 Minnesota Conservation Volunteer

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1. Collect Your Tapping Tools

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4-ch pc of pc o copp pp (Buy -ch PVC -uppypp hd o, cu o pc, d u f o mooh hough dg. Som hd o cu pp o gh fo you.)

Catch the Sap Run

Sugar Bush Basics

tereSaMarroNe

Make Your Own Syrup

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MarchApril 2009 61

Spiles of Many StylesMany different kinds of tools can be used

to collect sap for making syrup. Once ahole is drilled into a tree, a spile directs

sap into a container. The blue plastic spile

(bottom left) funnels sap through a hose

and into a bag. The metal and plastic

spiles (top) are designed to hold a bucket

on the hook beneath them. Another style

of metal spile (center) collects sap in a

bag or other container slid onto it.

Plastic jugs, metal buckets, and specially designed bags like these can be used to collect sap for making syrup.

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DeborahroSe

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MarchApril 2009 6362 Minnesota Conservation Volunteer

Dill (cc o hd pod) h 5/8-ch pd b.

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Lag bukt (oppo pg) ocmpg jug fo cocg pfom h jug.

2. Tap Trees

3. Collect Sap

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64Minnesota Conservation Volunteer MarchApril 2009

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Sweet Days in State ParksMy pk off yup-mkgv Mch. To mo, go o

www.mndnr.gov/state_parks.

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6. Finish Cooking Indoors

4. Set Up Your Outdoor Kitchen

5. Boil It DownA NOTe TO TeAcHers

Find links to teachers guides, information

on the new bookTrees and Shrubs of

Minnesota,and a primer on Minnesotas

forests and trees at www.mndnr.gov/

young_naturalists.

Because sap is mostly water, making one gallon of syrup typically requires about 40 gallons of sap.

Syrup makers may use a candy thermometer to measure the boiling point of pure water, which varies with

daily atmospheric pressure. The boiling point of syrup (left) is 7 degrees higher than waters boiling point.

When finished, syrup should be thick enough to slide off a spatula (right) in a small sheet.

64Minnesota Conservation Volunteer

tereSaMarroNe

PhotograPhSbytereSaMarroNe