How weather impacts maple syrup making in Mid-Missouri
When thinking of maple syrup, many people might have the grocery store first come to mind. For some in Mid-Missouri, local maple trees during the months of January through February are first in mind. Many people do not know that maple trees around the region can be tapped to collect sap used to later become maple syrup after being evaporated down.
Gabe Nichols is an educator at the Boone County Nature School who has spent years collecting maple tree sap with his father Jeff Nichols and now teaches students how the process occurs through lessons.
The process of making maple syrup is dependent on temperature changes form the overnight hours into the daylight hours. Freezing temperatures during the overnight hours are needed before rising temperatures above freezing during the day. The freezing temperatures overnight draws the sap from the roots upward into the trunk of the tree. The warmer temperatures during the thaw allows for a positive pressure to form drawing the sap back downward towards the areas tapped for collection.
Long-standing drought conditions during the previous growing season can have a direct impact on the amount of sap the tree will produce during the months of January through February by causing a decrease in production.
The average high temperatures in January sits into the upper 30s for Columbia, Missouri allowing for the thaw after freezing lows overnight.
After February, the overnight lows continuously rise at a more aggressive pace causing the sap flow to decrease.
Once the desired temperatures are met for sap collection, a hole is drilled into a tree 1.5" deep. A tap is then hammered into the hole with a rubber mallet. A bag is then placed on the tap for collection.
Once enough maple sap is collected, the bag is then taken to an evaporator. The sap at this stage has a high percentage of water, this must be evaporated out of the sap to achieve a proper composition. This sap is then taken to a finisher boiler where the temperature can be controlled more precisely to achieve the correct viscosity. The syrup is then bottled hot and sealed to allow for a longer shelf life.
