maple sugaring

Not far from our house we learned how to get sap from a tree to make syrup.

The boys learned how to drill a hole for the spout.

We learned that the sweetest sap is in the Spring. The nights need to be below freezing and days above for the sap to flow. The sap is 97% water.

Once the sap is harvested it needs to boil for 27-48 hours. The sap will thicken and darken when it becomes syrup. 40 gallons of sap will make one gallon of syrup.

They even had samples for us from a "sugar bush" from central Illinois. Soo good!!!

Now we wish we had a sugar maple in our backyard.