Maple Syrup Madness in Simcoe County! | The Fournier Experience

The temperature is rising (slowly we know, but it is rising) and nothing says spring in Canada like maple syrup!  One of our favourite spring time activities is wandering through a forest of sugar maples and dreaming of the syrup covered pancakes at the end of the trail.  Not only is it a meal we don’t have to cook, it’s a great opportunity to learn a little more about awe-inspiring Mother Nature.

How well do you know your maple syrup facts?  Let’s play a quick game of Did you know?

5 Fast Maple Syrup Facts

1. Maple syrup was first used by indigenous people living in northeastern North America.  With stone tools, a v-shaped incision would be made into the tree and a reed or piece of bark inserted to allow the sap to flow into buckets (often made of bark).  To concentrate the sap, rocks heated from the fire would be dropped into the buckets.

2.  It takes 40 gallons of sap to make 1 gallon of maple syrup.  Each tap inserted into a tree produces between 10-20 gallons of sap a season….now we are no math wizards, but that’s 2-4 trees per gallon of maple syrup.  You need a lot of mature trees to roll in the maple syrup business!

3. Approximately 80% of the world’s maple syrup comes from Canada.  Quebec alone produces 2/3 of the global supply!

4. The classic metal tap and bucket sap collection system is being pushed to the wayside.  Many modern tree farms now use plastic tubing and vacuum pumps to take the sap right from the tree to the evaporation house where it will be processed.

5. Maple syrup doesn’t freeze.  I’m still shocked about this one!  I sense a bunch of maple syrup experiments coming up.

How many of our fast facts did you know?!  If you want to learn more about making maple syrup (and eat some pancakes), get your family out for some spring fun at one of Simcoe County’s Sugar bushes.

Sweetwater Harvest Festival at Wye Marsh Wildlife Centre
WHEN: March 19 & 20, 2016, 10am – 4pm

Spring Tonic at Tiffin Centre
WHEN: April 9 & 10, 2016, 10am – 4pm

Elmvale Maple Syrup Festival in Elmvale
WHEN: April 30, 2016

Tap Into Spring! at Scanlon Creek
WHEN: April 2 & 3, 2016, 9:30-2:30

 

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