It's Maple Syrup Season!

Maple Syrup season is upon us. The Alvinston Maple Syrup Festival is cancelled this year due to cautions surrounding the Coronavirus outbreak.  Tapping trees to make Maple Syrup has been been a rite of spring for hundreds of years in North-eastern North America.

Many legends help to explain the discovery of Maple Syrup. But Indigenous people may have learned about the sweet sap after observing birds and animals drinking sap from cracks in tree bark. Tasting a frozen "sapsicle" from a Sugar Maple tree can be surprisingly sweet!

  Our indigenous populations heated rocks in a fire and placed
 the hot rocks in hollowed, sap filled tree logs to evaporate water.

Sugar Maple trees are reflected in the drip of sap leaking from the spile. When sap drips from the tree it is 3% sugar, on average  The ratio of sap to syrup is 40:1. Forty litres of sap must be collected to get enough sugar to make just 1 litre of maple syrup!

Early Pioneers boiled sap to remove water through evaporation. 
Cast iron pots allowed for a hotter fire to evaporate the water and create 
a sweeter, lighter coloured syrup, as compared to the hot rock method.

Metal pails are stored in the Sugar Shack during the off season.

Many advancements have improved the quality of syrup, including the use of plastic equipment. One tap hole will produce 40 litres of sap in an average season. By counting the tap holes in a sugar bush, you can estimate how much syrup will be produced.

Tourists from around the globe have toured the A. W. Campbell Sugar Bush.

Photo Booth!

A quaint ride along the forest road.

So much steam! When sap is boiled, water evaporates 
until the sugar density is 66% sugar.

Boiling syrup for taffy

Ready to pour on ice!

Yum!!