How is sugar maple sap used to make maple syrup and maple sugar?

To produce maple syrup and maple sugar from the sugar maple, producers tap into the tree's sapwood during late winter or early spring, when the tree is dormant and temperatures fluctuate between freezing and thawing.12

The Process

• Tapping: A spigot-like device is inserted into the tree at a height of 2 to 4 feet (0.6 to 1.2 metres) to drain the "sweet-water" sap. Modern methods often use plastic tubing to transport this sap from entire stands of trees to central storage tanks.1
• Concentration: The raw sap, which contains 1.5 to 3 percent solids (mostly sucrose), lacks the characteristic colour and flavour of the final product. These qualities are developed by boiling the sap in open pans or using precision evaporation equipment.12
• Yield: It takes approximately 30 to 50 gallons (115 to 190 litres) of sap to produce one gallon of syrup.12

Maple sugar is created by further boiling the syrup until enough water evaporates to form a solid sugar. While once an economically significant product, it was largely displaced by inexpensive cane sugar in the 19th century.1