MapleSAP Lab · Learning beta

Maple know-how, from your first tap to sweet science.

Start with a question about maple trees. No experience or equipment needed. Go as deep as you like, skip ahead, or come back.

Start with the trees See all topics

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Where would you like to start?

Start hereWhat’s special about maple trees?Where the sweetness comes from, and which trees give sap.How it worksWhy does sap only run on some days?Freezing nights, thawing days and the pressure inside the tree.Hands-onHow do I tap my first tree?Timing, tree size, the hole, the spout and keeping sap fresh.Hands-onHow does sap become syrup?Boiling about 40 parts sap down to one part syrup, safely.DeeperThe deeper scienceStarch, sucrose, gas and ice, the Rule of 86, and what is still unknown.

A maple in one minute

In summer, a maple’s leaves make sugar from sunlight. The tree stores some of it in its wood over winter. As late winter warms, it turns that store back into sugar, which dissolves in the watery sap moving through the wood. On days when a freezing night is followed by a thawing day, pressure inside the tree can push that sap out of a small hole. That is the sap people collect and boil into syrup.

~2%sugar in fresh sugar maple sap

~40 : 1litres of sap per litre of syrup

66–67.5%sugar in finished syrup

Figures from the Ontario Maple Syrup Producers’ Association; details and sources on each topic page.

Two parts that work together

Learn the season. Read the conditions.

MapleSAP Lab is the learning: seasonal lessons from the first tap to the science. MapleSAP is the app being built to read local weather for the freeze-thaw pattern that moves sap. App launch is planned for February 17, 2027.

The appMapleSAP, the appThe Maple Intelligence Platform: what it is being built to do.Follow alongMapleSAP LabSeasonal maple learning to follow, from first tap to sweet science.