State park offers free maple syrup making events

It’s quite a process to get delicious maple syrup from the tree to your table each spring. Come to a maple syruping event and check it out for yourself. You’ll enjoy some hands-on experience, and we know you’ll enjoy your sample of the fresh syrup!

When does the sap run?

Maple sap runs best when daytime temperatures are in the high 30s to mid 40s and overnight temperatures are below freezing. This cycle of above-freezing days and below-freezing nights needs to continue for several days, although nature occasionally has been known to provide a good run under less than perfect conditions.

Sometimes sap flows as early as January or as late as May, but in Minnesota, sap usually runs from about March 15 to April 20.

How does the sap turn into syrup?

Sap is converted to syrup by boiling. Most of the water boils out of the sap, leaving behind the sugar and the flavor. It usually takes 30-40 gallons of sugar maple sap to produce one gallon of pure maple syrup.

Join us for our annual “Maple Syruping in Your Backyard” workshops. Learn about the natural history of maple trees, and the history of making maple syrup. Find out what equipment is required, how to tap trees, how to process sap into syrup, and the best part, tasting the syrup. Programs will start at the visitor center. No registration is required.

In the Twin Cities area, events take place at Fort Snelling State Park on March 12, 13, 19, 20, 26 and 27, and April 3 from 1-2:30 pm.

For more information call 612-279-3550 or the visitor center at 612-725-2724 or go to http://www.dnr.state.mn.us.

This information was provided by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources.