Students collaborate for Maple Tree Project

Students collaborate for Maple Tree Project
Posted on 02/14/2017
The CV Maple Project is a joint effort between Cumberland Valley Agricultural Sciences and the CV FFA chapter. Students in CV's Food Science, Plant Science, and Ag Mechanics courses take part in each step of the process while FFA members utilize the maple project as a chance to educate elementary students and community groups about transforming a raw commodity (maple sap) into a consumable product (maple syrup).
 
The process begins with tapping maple trees. Tapping involves drilling a 5/16" hole through the bark of a maple tree. Sugar maples are the preferred tree to tap since their sap contains up to 2% sugar. A spile (either made of plastic or metal) is hammered into the newly drilled hole. The spile will collect sap from the xylem of the tree and direct it outside. A blue collection bag is hung on the spile to collect the sap as it runs out the tree. Some maple producers utilize buckets (galvanized or plastic) to collect sap while commercial maple producers utilize tubing that connects from tree to tree and drains to a central location.
 
Once sap is collected, it needs to be boiled down into syrup. 98% of sap is water, which needs is boiled away to concentrate the sugar. It takes approximately 40 gallons of sap to create 1 gallon of maple syrup. The syrup is bottled after it is put through filters to remove any "sugar sand" which may crystallize if the sap is boiled too long.
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