Pass the sap
Students from the MU College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources tap sugar maple trees Saturday at the Baskett Wildlife Research and Education Center in Ashland.
A single tree can produce up to five gallons of sap on a good day, and roughly 40 gallons of sap is needed to make 1 gallon of maple syrup. In the coming months, the sap is boiled on a wood fire until it reaches 40% sugar content. Then, the sap is transferred to a second, more controlled boiling system that utilizes propane.
“We shoot for 67% sugar in the final product,” Benjamin Knapp, silviculture professor, said.
At the end of the season, students can go back to taste their work.
Silviculture professor Benjamin Knapp explains the boiling process of making maple syrup to MU CAFNR students at the Baskett Wildlife Research and Education Center on Saturday in Ashland. “It’s the brute work here, and then the finesse,” Knapp said in reference to the two different boiling systems, the first being wood and the second being propane.
MU CAFNR freshman Troy Beilsmith carries supplies Saturday at the Baskett Wildlife Research and Education Center in Ashland. Beilsmith searched for untapped sugar maples.
Erin Stevens, an intern at the Baskett Wildlife Research and Education Center, drills into a tree and assists other students Saturday in Ashland. Her internship includes research on sap output and tree data.
Alex Kalisz, left, and Erin Stevens place a spile into a sugar maple tree Saturday at the Baskett Wildlife Research and Education Center in Ashland. Tubing is placed to guide the sap into a bucket.
A tree is marked with a green string and metal ID tag Saturday at the Baskett Wildlife Research and Education Center in Ashland. Students are instructed to tap trees with a markers on them. Roughly 200 sugar maple trees will be tapped by the end of the season.
A refractometer and jars of different grades of maple syrup sit on a table Saturday at the Baskett Wildlife Research and Education Center in Ashland. A refractometer is used to measure the sugar content in the syrup. “The early boils in sap runs create the lighter grade,” professor Benjamin Knapp said. “Light A is going to be really sweet but not have the richer flavor.”