With many above freezing days in a row, all trees begin sending sap (stored underground in the roots all winter) up to their branches to prepare for the growing season. Sap is liquid sugar and flows up and down through the xylem and phloem, much like our own blood moves back and forth from the heart through veins and arteries. At the Aldo Leopold Nature Center, we tap several sugar maple trees, which have a sugar content of 4% in their sap. That means to get to pure maple syrup, at 66% sugar, we have to boil 40 parts sap down to 1 part maple syrup. The sap is therefore extremely diluted, but you can still taste the sugar in it. It's likely that the first people to discover maple sap's sweetness either saw squirrels and yellow-bellied sapsuckers lapping it up, or they taste-tested tree sap themselves. Maple trees are native to North America so Canada and the United States make just about all of the world's supply. Quebec trees account for 75% of it while Vermont is the biggest U.S. producer, at 5% of world maple syrup. In 2013, Wisconsin made 265,000 gallons of maple syrup, a record year. The entire season lasts just 3-4 weeks, and will hang on while we have below freezing nights. Eventually, the sap sugars will change as the trees begin to bud and you will know by taste that the season is up.
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