The sixth graders enjoyed a morning trip to the Sugar Shack. See their comments on what they learned about the process of maple syrup making.
Mark Budde
3/21/2014 01:31:56 am
The imperative thing about the maple syrup process and St. John's is it takes 40 gallons of sap to make one gallon of syrup.
Sam M.
3/21/2014 01:33:26 am
The imperative thing about the maple syrup process at Saint John's is that it starts at about 2% sugar and as it cooks, it gets to about 66% sugar.
Will P.
3/21/2014 01:36:08 am
There are many steps that go into the making of maple syrup at St. John's. The hard work of tapping over 900 trees is done first. Next, there is a wait of a week or so before volunteers and kids on school field trips collect the sap. The best temperatures for maple sap to flow are temperatures above freezing during the day and temperatures below freezing during the night. The sap is now put in a machine known as "Big Burnie". This machine heats the sap into syrup through a maze of pipes that run over a fire. Last, the syrup is heated over a propane stove to get it to the right sugar level, 66%. All of these things contribute to the wonderful maple syrup made by St. John's.
Joshua-Taylor
3/21/2014 01:37:55 am
Today my sixth grade class learned about maple syrup at the sugar shack. One of things we learn is were the maple syrup comes from. The sap is the main source for organic maple syrup. Also, we know how to collet the sap from the trees. After that we went to the sugar shack and got educated on how to make maple syrup. The sap run through tubes and gets warm in "Big Burny" and eventually turns into maple syrup. We had a fun time at the sugar shack. We learned a lot and had fun.
Sami S
3/21/2014 01:38:06 am
Ben
3/21/2014 06:07:33 am
Today my class went to the Sugar Shack with St. John's Outdoor U. I learned that the tree you want to tap must be at least 12 inches in diameter. If you would like to put two taps in the tree the tree has to be 18 inches in diameter. We also learned that it takes 40 gallons of sap to make 1 gallon of maple syrup. At first, the sap has 2% sugar but after they boil the sap the syrup has 66% sugar. We learned that maple trees have a little more sugar than other trees so it makes the syrup taste better. While my class was out at the Sugar Shack we learned that the process to make maple syrup is a time consuming and takes a lot of dedication.
Durham
3/21/2014 06:08:35 am
The imperative thing about the syrup process at St. Johns Prep is you need to have a lot of patience
Haley
3/21/2014 06:10:22 am
Making maple syrup at St. John's is a very delicate process. We walked out into the woods and learned how to identify a maple tree by not seeing leaves. It had rough bark that often has patterns in it. If you look closely, you may be able to see old tap holes from previous years of tapping. Once you have found a tree, you must measure it to make sure that it is 12 inches or over in diameter. If it is, or you have found an old tap hole, then you can drill a specified hole in the tree, first making sure that there are not any tap holes within about five inches of the spot you picked. If you have found a spot that is good and not close to other tap holes, then you are good to put the spile in. You want the spile to be not wiggly, and may have to tap it in with a hammer. Once in, either hang a bag on the spile so the sap drops into the bag, or hang a bucket on the spile. Make sure that animals could not get into the bucket. If there is enough syrup, they could drown or simply contaminate the bucket. Once the bucket or bag is full,we take it off of the spile and dump it into buckets until the bucket is full, then put it into the barrels. After that, you boil it until the water has evaporated and you're left with 66% maple sugar! Making maple syrup is hard work, but definately worth it in the end.
Justine
3/21/2014 06:10:28 am
The imperative thing about the maple syrup process at St. John's is that their syrup is just boiled and they don't add any sugar.
Luke E
3/23/2014 11:18:11 am
The imperative thing about syrup at St.johns is that it takes 40 gallons of sap to make one maple syrup gallon.
Bryan M.
3/24/2014 04:56:58 am
It was great to experience the process of making maple syrup!
Mack Motzko
3/24/2014 10:39:52 am
Miranda
3/24/2014 10:32:22 pm
The imperative thing about the maple syrup process at Saint John's is they make sap into syrup.
Lailah c.
3/25/2014 03:03:35 am
The imperitive thing about making maple syrup at saint johns is that it comes from a tree. Comments are closed.
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AuthorThe authors of this blog are the 5/6th graders at St. John's Prep School. Some entries are created by their teacher, Mrs. Anderson Archives
May 2020
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