Maple Sugaring – A Sweet Tale

Eric Morris

Grades 3-5

Introduction:

Native Americans had been making Maple Syrup from the sweet sap of Maple trees long before Christopher Columbus landed on Plymouth Rock. Native Americans would make long slashes in maple trees and collect the sap in handmade containers. They would then drop hot rocks into the container to boil away the water to make syrup. Early settlers most likely learned how to make Maple Syrup from the Native Americans. They gathered their sap in wooden buckets and which was then boiled in heavy iron kettles over roaring wood fires. Today, technology has taken over Maple Sugaring. The biggest, most efficient syrup producers can turn out thousands of gallons of maple syrup each day. They use processes like vacuum tubing and reverse osmosis machines to increase production and reduce the amount of energy used.

Challenge:

Vermont is the largest (and most famous) producer of Maple Syrup in the United States. Your task is to create a chart with a minimum of six steps detailing the steps involved in making maple syrup. Your chart should start with maple sap and end with maple syrup. Each step must be accompanied by either a hand-drawn or computer image illustrating what you are describing. You may choose to detail the maple sugaring process from any time period you choose. First learn a little about the history of maple sugaring. Then, choose a time period and complete your chart of the steps of maple sugaring. So, get out a pencil and paper and let’s get started!!!

The Journey:

Use the websites listed below to help you complete your task. You should also try inputting these words into a search engine to find more information (http://www.google.com and http://yahoo.com are great examples).

Key words: Maple, Maple Sugaring, Maple Syrup, Sugaring Process, History of Sugaring.

Web Sites:

History:

• http://www.massmaple.org/history.html - History of Maple Sugaring in Massachusetts.
• http://www.blueribbonvtmaple.com/about.htm - A brief history of Maple Sugaring in Vermont.
• http://www.maplemuseum.com – The history of maple sugaring. Lots of photos and artifacts.
• http://www.manchesterjournal.com/default.asp?Action=ShowArticle&articleid=69627 – History and process of sugaring.

The Process:

• http://www.vermontmaple.org/minfo.htm – How syrup is made.
• http://www.ryersonwoods.org/p/maplesyrup.html – How syrup is made.
• http://www.pacpubserver.com/new/enter/3-13-99/maple.html – Process.

Fun Stuff:

• http://www.vtliving.com/maple/sugaronsnow.shtml - A Vermont Sugar on Snow Recipe.
• http://www.hallfarms.com/sweettalk.html – A glossary of sugaring terms.

Happy Sugaring!!