When maple sap emerges from a tree, it’s a long way from its prized place at the breakfast table. Sap has a disappointing sugar content, just 1 or 2 percent, and doesn’t taste sweet. Syrup-making hinges on removing most of the water in the sap, traditionally by boiling.
But “in the last 20 years … the industry just went through enormous changes with technology,” says Matthew Emerick, a self-described “sugar maker” in southeastern Somerset County. Emerick now uses a vacuum system to coax sap from trees and through plastic tubing to a central collection point. Reverse osmosis removes some water from the sap before he begins boiling, which saves on energy costs.
- Subscribe to Still Working on iTunes and download episodes here or listen below.
Still Working is our podcast about how work shapes who we are and how we see the world.
