How to Make Maine Maple Syrup: Sap to Syrup

Date Published: November 5, 2018

By Sharyn Inzunza

After weeks of working in the snowy sugarbush — connecting lines, tapping spiles into trees and collecting maple sap — the farmer heads indoors to the sugarhouse. Here, he’ll turn the watery, clear sap into thick, golden Maine maple syrup.

In the sugarhouse

Like many farming activities, sugaring (turning the sap into maple syrup) involves a lot of moving parts. So, with the freshly harvested sap ready, the farmer does a final check to make sure everything is in place…

A series of hoses snake between the holding tank and reverse osmosis machine. Shiny stainless steel evaporator pans stand ready atop the burly furnace. And in the belly of the furnace, stacked firewood patiently awaits its flame.

Sugaring wasn’t always so streamlined

Of course, sugaring has come a long way from the early days. In the beginning, settlers used rough metal pans over open fires to distill the sap into maple syrup.

And even further back, Native Americans had their own method. In 1775, a young colonialist recounted how the women collected sap in bark vessels. The sap would freeze and they’d throw away the ice. He observed that after several times freezing, the water that remained in the vessel changed its color and became brown and very sweet.

All systems go

These days, farmers use sophisticated equipment to produce maple syrup. But as what seems like a salute to the past, the process still includes a wood-burning furnace for boiling down the sap. And, as if lighting the torch, the farmer kicks off the season with the simple strike of a match.

Reverse osmosis saves time and energy

While the furnace gathers heat, a vacuum system pulls the sap into the sugar house from holding tanks. To reduce boiling time, the sap runs through the reverse osmosis machine, allowing farmers to concentrate the sugar by removing a large amount of water from the sap. This speeds up production and saves energy (by using less firewood).

Evaporator pans — from big to small

After an efficient trip through the reverse osmosis machine, the reduced sap heads to the large evaporator pan. Here, the heated sap gives off steam reducing the watery liquid into golden-colored syrup. At this stage, the farmer knows the syrup is close to ready when it reaches around 219 degrees Fahrenheit.

For the last boiling step, the syrup is moved to a smaller pan. In this final cooking stage, he monitors the liquid’s temperature. And with an experienced eye, he also looks for visual cues that indicate the syrup is done:

There are circular patterns on the surface of the syrup
When the syrup runs off a ladle, it sheets, meaning the drops of syrup appear wide and elongated as they fall.

Filtering for the purest maple syrup

To ensure absolute purity, the syrup goes through a filtration process. In the filter press, multi-layered filters remove any particles. The end result: pristine maple syrup.

Bottled syrup for everyone

After busy days of feeding the furnace and monitoring the syrup beneath swirling clouds of steam, the farmer is ready to present his harvest. His freshly bottled syrup, that just days ago flowed like water from the trees, stands in golden lines — ready for everyone to enjoy.

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At Spring Break Maple and Honey, we’ve been busy creating this year’s maple syrup. If you’d like to know more about our process or our maple products, please contact us here.

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