The sap was then emptied into a large hollowed-out tree trunk. In some cases, the sap was left exposed to the cold night air, and ice was chipped off the surface the next morning, leaving a thick, brown syrup below. Or the sap was boiled by dropping red hot stones into the collecting trough. The sugar could be stored in rough boxes made of birch bark where it hardened into maple candy. Thursday This week we're talking about the nature of the sugar maple, and the sweet science that produces maple syrup.
Maple sap is really just water absorbed by the roots and mixed with the sugars stored in the trees.
The sap of the maple tree is sweetest when it reaches maximum flow in the early spring. Water from the roots travels up the outer portion of the trunk. Tree tappers drill a hole about half an inch in diameter, three inches into the tree. The hole slants downward so the sap will drip out. At this time of year, sugarers are usually in the midst of the first sap run, which produces the lightest, sweetest variety of maple syrup.