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54 Minnesota Conservation Volunteer
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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,
Deborah
roSe,
DNr;treeSiLhouette,
aMybeyer;
rightPage:DeborahroSe,
DNr
55
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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.
treetruNkaNDMaPLeSyruPJar,
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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2. Tap Trees
3. Collect Sap
PhotograPhSbytereSaMarroNe
LakeMariaStateParkbyDe
borah
roSe,
DNr
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64Minnesota Conservation Volunteer MarchApril 2009
65
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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
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