Native Americans were the first to harvest and boil the sap of the maple tree into a thick syrup — a process that was documented and copied by early settlers in the 1600s. Tapping a maple tree does no permanent damage to the tree and only 10% of the sap that is produced in a year is actually collected. Many maple trees have been tapped for 150 years or more!
It takes 30-50 gallons of sap to make one gallon of maple syrup. Maple syrup can also be boiled down to produce maple cream, maple sugar, and maple sugar candy.
Whether you like your maple syrup as a topping on pancakes, waffles, or vanilla ice cream, enjoy some today in honor of National Maple Syrup Day!
