All about maple > Maple syrup > 1st step Transformation: From maple water to syrup

It takes 40 liters of sap to make just 1 liter of maple syrup. The sugar maple is one of 160 varieties of maple found worldwide. Its average height is between 25 and 28 meters, and it can live up to 250 years. Not all maples are sugar maples, however, and their sap differs, depending on whether they originate in the north or south. Under optimal conditions, sugar maples reach maturity at age 40. When well cared for, they can produce about 12 liters of sap, a drop at a time, over the course of a warm spring day. During the sugar season, an average maple produces 35-50 liters of sap, enough to fill 4 cans.

It is the fluctuation between hot and cold that promotes the sap flow: nights when the temperature falls below the freezing point, to about -5° C, and a daytime temperature around 8-10° C. As the tree draws water from it roots, the increased temperature causes the liquid to expand, creating pressure within the tree. At this point a tap or "spile" is inserted into the outer 2 cm (1") of bark which permits the sap to drip into a pail that is hung beneath it. Since the 1970s, a tubing system has gradually replaced the traditional bucket for collecting maple water. The blue plastic tubes are connected to a vacuum pump that transports the maple water directly into a storage tank, doing away with the need for the barrels, horses and tractors of the past… Collecting maple water by hand has now been relegated to the history books.