|
An average forty-year-old tree will yield about 40 quarts of sap per season, just enough to make one quart of pure maple syrup. Sap can only be harvested while it's moving through the tree trunk. The sugar in sap is stored as starch throughout the year. During the spring, the warm days and cold nights help change these starches to sugars and the flow of sweet sap begins. A gallon of pure maple syrup will weigh about 11 pounds. photo by Vicki Schmidt |
The average maple tree isn't tapped until it is almost forty years old. Tapping younger trees can often harm them.