Thursday, March 03, 2011

Maple Sap Science

Here are two images from yesterday when the temperatures kissed up against 40. The sap in bucket left (1) is from the shaded side of a tree, and the sap in bucket right (2) is from the full sun side. Note the differences in volume. Pretty exciting science right in our own back 0.58 acre.

Most people are surprised by the crystal clear water consistency of the maple sap. Some have even thought the sap would be more syrupy -- more like maple syrup. My bucket emptier, number one sap taste tester has reported the sap is sweet right from the tree. Still, I am sure we will be boiling down close to 50 gallons of sap to acquire one gallon of syrup.

2 comments:

jeff noel said...

Never knew is was clear. Interesting.

P.H. said...

Most people don't. When we go into the kindergarten classes to share with them "all things maple" the watery consistency of the sap is the number one surprising fact for the kids.

Also the fact that 10 kindergarten students can stand in our pan is another wonderful discovery. (No shoes -- of course)