OTTAWA | March 4, 2011

Running of the sap

By Clara McWatters       Producer Matthew Di Nicolantonio
Bookmark and Share Print this page Increase font size Reset font size Decrease font size

Just as crocuses blooming and robins returning are signs of spring, so is the flowing of maple sap. And Canadian farmers are already hard at work preparing for this year’s maple syrup season.

It is thought that the making of maple syrup goes back to before colonization, when the Aboriginal peoples of Canada would extract the sap from the trees and boil the liquid into a syrup. The Algonquin tribes called this sweet creation “sinzibuckwud” — which means “drawn from the wood.”

Maple products have since grown into a major business for Canada.  According to Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, this country produces about 85 per cent of the world’s maple syrup. Each year, Canada sells more than 40,600 tonnes of the sweet stuff to over 40 countries. It’s a $200 million-plus business.

Capital News Online spoke to two people who are in the thick of the maple industry. Gisele Proulx is the farm director of the Proulx Sugarbush & Berry Farm. We also interviewed Stephen Skinner, the president of the Lanark and District Maple Syrup Producers Association.
Sap Facts

Production methods have been modified since colonial days, but remain mostly the same.

The sap must be collected and boiled down carefully to obtain pure syrup, without any chemical agents or preservatives.

It was originally made by boiling between 20-50 litres of sap over an open fire until one litre of syrup was obtained.

The 1970s saw a number of changes to syrup technology.  These included the perfection of plastic tubing systems, which allowed sap to come directly from the tree to the evaporator house.  Vacuum pumps were also added, and pre-heaters were developed to recycle heat lost in the steam.  In order to remove water from the sap before it was boiled, reverse-osmosis machines were created.

Maple trees are usually tapped when they are about 30-40 years old.  Depending on the diameter of the trunk, each tree can support between one and three taps. The average maple tree will produce between 35 to 50 litres of sap per season, and  up to 12 litres per day.