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About the Production
of Maple Syrup
We start in November, walking the main lines
that are left in place all year long,
repairing any damage done by animals and
falling branches, and checking smaller
plastic pipeline that runs from tree-t-tree
carrying sap to the gathering tanks. The
process of tapping has improved over the
years with a variety of different spouts.
Now we use a two-piece spout that only
drills a 19/64th inch diameter hole in the
tree. This creates less stress on the trees
than the old 7/16th inch diameter holes.
Stuart and John each own land parcels that
make up about one-third to on-half of the
maple trees that they tap. They also rent
maple groves from friends and neighbors in
Westmoreland, NH. Payment is made with
Stuart & John's pure, New Hampshire-made
maple syrup. Tapping begins in mid-February
when the temperatures reach 40+ degrees and
the nights are dipping below freezing. When
tapping begins, a small hole is drilled and
the spouts are inserted and secured with a
light tap of a small hammer. Then the drop
lines are connected to the spout, and sap
flows through the pipeline into our
gathering tanks. If we have ideal
temperatures for gathering, the sap could
run all day and into the night, keeping the
trucks on the move continuously; otherwise
the sap would overflow the tanks. It's
amazing to see the sap flowing from the
trees, as spring gives up it's sweet nectar.
There is only (on average) a 2% sugar
content in the sap, so a lot of boiling
takes place to remove the water. At this
rate, it takes 43 gallons of sap to make one
gallon of pure, NH maple syrup. The sap is
gathered in tanker trucks, and transported
back to the sugar house for boiling. It is
unloaded into large stainless steel holding
tanks and then filtered and processed
through the reverse osmosis machine. 75% of
the water is removed, saving huge amounts of
oil consumption and boiling time. The ratio
of sap to syrup is now down to 11 gallons of
sap to make one gallon of syrup. We now
finish boiling the sap down to 67% sugar to
be standard maple syrup. After boiling is
complete, the syrup is filtered through the
filter presses and is ready to be canned. At
the end of the season, the pipeline has to
be washed. Stuart and John purchased a
portable machine to wash the pipeline in
place before removing the spouts from the
trees. The maple flow tubing and main lines
are left in the woods, ready for our next
season. Some tubing is taken down if it
interferes with the renter's property. |
