[Music] near the end of winter when daytime temperatures rise above freezing magical things start happening in the maple forest It's the time of year when we can turn tree sap into a delicious treat called maple syrup And it's not really magic it's science Last summer when the days were warm and the trees were green the leaves were busy making sugar so the tree could grow They use a process called photosynthesis to combine the energy from the sun carbon dioxide from the air and water they absorb from the soil to make sugar This sugar is moved around the tree in sap When fall comes the tree sends its extra sugar down its trunk and into its roots where is stored for the winter Come spring the tree needs that sap to help sprout new leaves In late winter when daytime temperatures reach above freezing the tree begins moving that sap from its roots up to its branches If there is a broken branch or a hole in the tree trunk the sap will leak out as it moves up the tree That's where we come in So a tricky thing with maple syruping is that we tap trees when there are no leaves on the tree And so how do we identify a maple tree there are three bees that we use to ident identify maple trees Their bark is gray and shaggy um which other trees do have Another thing though that maple trees have that a lot of other trees don't have are their branching And so they have opposite branching where on a twig their branches their little twigs come directly opposite each other So that is one identifying feature because only ash trees um and dogwoods really have that too So we know the bark the branching are opposite And then the last thing for the young trees is we look at their buds And so these are brown small and brown Um other maples like red maples and silver maples their buds are a little bit more reddish but our sugar maples which have the highest sugar content are brown So we have a maple tree here Uh before we put a bucket on it though we have to um see if it's big enough And so we use our tree calipers which measure the diameter of the tree to make sure it's big enough And so when we hold it up here it says it's two taps which means we can have two buckets So we have one bucket already So we're going to put another bucket on this tree The first step we need to do is to drill a hole And so I got a spot lined up here When we drill our holes we actually can't go above or below an old tap scar Um we have to go kind of in between And so we're going to hold it that way And then you want to come on up and help drill Go That's pretty much all the way in Just going to take it out Step back kiddo Step back There we go We got our hole Oh and there's some sap dripping out Look at that There we go You good so now we got to put the thing that's going to direct our sap into our buckets our spile And spiles are made of different things over time Right now a lot of people use plastic This is a metal one that we're going to use And so we're going to tap it in So you two are going to help me All right So you step back and then Yep We'll do one at a time And if you can step back just a little bit that way There you go I think you're actually good What's falling out what is that sap It's sap isn't it and so that's what we use to make our maple syrup So what's next though the bucket Yeah that we got to hang the bucket So we collect our sap And so if you come on over here buddy Come on over here So we're going to we're going to hang it right there And then where does this go and on top And so we put the bucket on We joke that the deer don't take a drink cuz sometimes they will drink out of here Um but the main thing is we want to keep the snow out which it's actually snowing right now Snow and rain We don't want more water going in our sap because that takes longer for it to cook So that's the process [Music] Once the sap is collected it's time to start boiling it to concentrate the sugars The sap is moved to a large collection bin and then flows down a pipe into a special pan called an evaporator Well welcome to the sugar house This is where the magic happens and where we turn pure maple sap into pure maple syrup And so what we got going on here is our evaporator is uh is heated by a fire underneath And so Phil our volunteer here is constantly maintaining this um putting firewood in And you can see that the sap is boiling on top There are steam so the water is leaving and so the sugars stay in the pan Over time those sugars concentrate And so that's basically all it is to making maple syrup from the sap is cooking it down um to get rid of the water This has different compartments in it at different levels So um the two over here are at about the same stage and he is always constantly scooping over to our finishing side This is the side that will be pure maple syrup When the maple sap has officially turned to syrup it's time to stop cooking it We know it is ready because the temperature will be 219° F And the hydrometer which measures how thick it is will float at just the right line When the syrup is ready we draw it off which means we remove it from the evaporator We open a valve and the syrup flows out of the pan and into a filter canister The filter removes any impurities from the syrup including niter also known as sugar sand which is made of minerals that were in the sap From the filter canister the sap can be transferred to jugs jars and bottles to be canned and stored on a shelf until it's time to be put on our pancakes Each spring we collect the sugary sap that maple trees made last summer and concentrate it down to make delicious maple syrup As soon as the buds on the trees begin to open the maple syrup season is over and we wait until next year to enjoy the magic of maple syrup Thanks for watching For more videos and lessons be sure to click the subscribe button and be sure to check out the description for links to our website activity guides resources and more [Music] [Applause]