Yankee Grocery Presents

AMERICA'S RICHEST TRADITION * MAKING MAPLE SYRUP*

ALL NATURAL -- NO Preservatives -- PURE -- MAPLE SYRUP -- MAPLE CANDY -- MAPLE CREAM --

Yankee Grocery is proud to present Pure, All Natural, New England Maple Syrup. New England has long been recognized as the largest producer of pure all natural maple syrup and delicious maple products around the world.

Maple Syrup come from the sweet sugar sap, which is obtained from the sugar maple, one of the most beautiful and stately of American trees. Native Americans were the first to discover the fact that sap from maple trees could be processed into maple syrup and sugar. While there are no authenticated accounts of how this process was discovered, there are several interesting legends that are still talked about during sugaring time. The making of maple syrup is truly an American art, passed down from one generation to the next.

A popular legend is that a Native American chief hurled his tomahawk at a tree which happened to be a sugar maple, and the sap began to flow. The clear liquid that dripped from the wound collected in a container on the ground below. His wife, believing the liquid was water, used it to cook venison. Both the meat and the sweet liquid that remained were found to be delicious. Retracing what had happened, they discovered the sweet sap from the maple tree made the difference. The process was repeated and the rest is now sweet maple history and a rich New England tradition of making maple syrup began.

Making maple syrup or sugaring as a hobby or as a business, maple people have a Maple Syrup Glossary and working terms having to do with making Maple Syrup. This comprehensive maple sugaring glossary of over 130 terms has been composed to help both the beginning hobbyist and all of those who have been bitten by the making maple syrup bug. It's nice to know and understand what the maple sugaring terms mean in all those maple sugaring "how to books" you have been reading. You've come to the right place...! It is under construction and we will link to it shortly.

The maple tree is an integral part of the New England landscape, with much history associated with it. Thousands of families come to New England each year in the Fall to see the beautiful and colorful foliage the maple tree shows us. Memories are created each New England spring as families take to the woods to start the maple sugaring process. The maple tree reminds us of the past, and shares with us the future. Spring becomes a time to awaken from the cold New England winter and for joyous celebration as the hard work of maple sugaring is completed for yet another year....!!!

From late February through early April, home town folks and farmers in nearly every hill, town, or village in New England get ready for an old New England time honored tradition. They take to the woods with drills, spouts, and buckets, to gather the sweet sap from sugar maple trees, and begin boiling it down to pure, all natural maple syrup, maple candy and maple sugar.

New England Maple syrup is produced during a short 4 week to 6 week sugaring window from early March into April when the New England nights are cold and the still short days are warming up with the introduction of spring. Warm days and cool nights are an important " Mother Nature" ingredient in the maple sugaring process, because it is this weather condition that encourages maple sap to flow or "run."

As the maple sap flows up from the roots of the maple tree during the warm day, it allows the maple syrup producer, or "sugarmaker," to "tap the tree." The process, called tapping, will not harm the maple trees. The process of "tapping" involves drilling a small 7/16" diameter hole into the tree, at a slight up angle, to a depth of about 2" to 2-1/2". Into this hole is driven a "spout or spile with a bucket hook." The spouts are formed pieces of stainless steel from which sap can flow from the tree into a sap bucket.

Newer methods of collecting the sweet sap allow the sap to drip through plastic spouts and into a complex plastic piping system that leads to a gathering tank. Some sugarmakers use the traditional New England method to gather the sap, which are buckets hung from each of the spouts. Other large scale producers use a plastic piping system to deliver the sap directly into larger gathering tanks. An average maple tree will produce 10 to 12 gallons of sap from each tap hole drilled each season.

It takes, on average, 40 gallons of maple sap to produce one gallon of pure maple syrup. To make quality maple syrup, the sap must be fresh and cold, which means it must be gathered from the sugarbush and boiled often in the sugarhouse. If allowed to collect too long before boiling, it will sour and spoil. Home town folks and farmers with carrying pails collect from each tree and empty the buckets into collecting tanks. The filled collecting tanks of the sweet maple sap are pulled out of the sugarbush by a team of horses, doodlebug or a modern tractor. Traditional postcard pictures show a snow covered forest, with a team of horses, in the sugarbush, with a sap tank in back of them on a wooden sled.

Whether the sugarmaker is using traditional sap buckets or a complex pipeline system to gather sap, the object is the same - to deliver 100's of gallons of fresh sap to a large gathering tank, located outside the back wall of the sugarhouse. From this gathering tank the sap flows into the sugarhouse through a filter to the "evaporator." Evaporators are large stainless steel pans, varying in size according to the volume of sap arriving daily at the sugarhouse and size of the maple sugaring operation. A backyard hobbyist may use a pan 2 feet by 2 feet while for a large scale operation, the most popular size pan is 5 feet wide and 16 feet long. The pan has partitions or dividers built in, so that the sap flows through the pan in a maze-like configuration. The sap flows very slowly from the point it enters the evaporator, through the partitions, to a point where it is drawn off as maple syrup.

As the sap flows along in a constant boil, the water evaporates in the form of steam, and the liquid becomes sweeter and changes to an amber color with the increasing sugar content. As it comes from the tree and enters the evaporator, sap has about 2 to 2-1/2% sugar content. After this boiling process, it is drawn off from the evaporators with a sugar content of over 65%. Traditional postcard pictures showing the process of making maple syrup, also show the large amounts of steam billowing out from the openings in the sugarhouse roof.

Unlike the Native American Indians, who used heated stones to evaporate maple sugar-water and the English settlers who used large iron kettles, we now use evaporators, fired with seasoned wood or oil to boil the maple sap. To evaporate off the tremendous amount of water in the sap, a large amount of energy and fuel is required. Some large scale sugarmakers use oil-fired evaporators, however most traditional New England sugarmakers still burn seasoned wood cut from their own woodlots to fire the arch. It takes on average, 40 gallons of sweet maple sap, boiled down in the evaporator to produce one gallon of pure maple syrup.

The sweet maple sap becomes maple syrup when the 2% sap, which dripped out of the maple tree into a sap bucket, is condensed by boiling during the evaporation process to the exact density of maple syrup, which is determined using a hydrometer. When the hydrometer settles in the liquid syrup to a mark designating the correct density (Sugar Content), the maple syrup is drawn off, and put through another filter to remove nitre or "sugar sand" which naturally forms during the boiling and evaporation. The fresh processed maple syrup is stored in 35 to 55 gallon stainless steel drums for hot packaging into retail containers later on.

The pure maple syrup is reheated to 185 degrees F. and each jug, can or bottle is packed hot, and sealed according to New England Law guidelines. The grade of the syrup packed and the sugarmaker's name and address must be marked on each jug, can or bottle. The process of sugaring "making maple syrup" is now complete...! This is the same pure, all natural maple syrup you purchase from on-line and mail-order companies or pick up from your grocer's shelf, and put into your shopping cart.

One gallon of pure maple syrup weighs eleven (11) pounds. This gallon of pure maple syrup was condensed (evaporated) at a New England sugarhouse from 40 gallons of maple sap collected from the local maple trees, drop by drop into the sap bucket. Think about that, the next time you pour out a jug of pure New England maple syrup onto your hot pancakes...!!! You have just read about America's Richest Tradition - MAKING MAPLE SYRUP - now sit down in front of your kitchen table and enjoy America's Second Richest Tradition - EATING MAPLE SYRUP...!!! Enjoy your pure maple syrup gift from the all natural, New England Maple trees...!!!

Bookmark this site now for exciting new maple syrup or maple product gift giving ideas during any season or for any special occasion. These will be ideal for surprise party, new homes, showers, weddings, business associates or for that special "Thank You".

Great Maple Products on Yankee Grocery: Sleepy Mountain Maple Grade A Medium Amber Maple Syrup in Jugs Sleepy Mountain Maple Syrup in Elegant Etched Glass Bottles Sleepy Mountain Maple Syrup in Maple Leaf Shaped Glass Bottles Sleepy Mountain Maple - 100% Pure Maple Candy Sleepy Mountain Maple - All Natural Maple Cream and Maple Sugar Sleepy Mountain Maple - MAPLE Sugar and Spiced PEPPER Blend Sleepy Mountain Maple - Pancake Mixes and Maple Gift Sets Make Your Own Maple Syrup - Home Maple Sugaring Equipment Maple Cookbook and How-to Library Hutchinson's Candy Sleepy Mt. Maple - Just for Kids Cooking with Maple Syrup & Free Maple Recipes Maple Nutritional Information Maple Syrup Comprehensive Glossary Making Maple Syrup in New England (Current Page) Return to Maple Products Main Page

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