Fun Maple Facts
Did you know ...
- Yes! - Pure Maple syrup is made in Minnesota. Minnesota has many licensed producers as well as numerous hobbyists.
- Minnesota is one of the northernmost and westernmost US states to produce maple syrup.
- Maple syrup is made in the spring, when temperatures rise above freezing during the day and dip below freezing at night.
- It takes about 40 gallons of sap (what comes from the tree) to make one gallon of maple syrup. Maple syrup is 2/3 sugar-solids by weight and 1/3 water by weight. Measurements by weight are called percent Brix. Maple syrup is a minimum of 66% Brix. One gallon of maple syrup weighs 11 pounds (a gallon of water weighs 8.3 pounds).
- Nothing is added to sap to make pure maple syrup, just water is removed to make a syrup.
- Once a tree is large enough to tap, it can provide maple sap for many years. Each tap can yield about 10 gallons of sap in a season. A five gallon pail of sap will make about one pint of syrup.
- Minnesota is among the top ten states for maple syrup, with about 100,000 taps annually. Vermont, New York, Maine, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania are the top five states by tap count, with Michigan, New Hampshire, Ohio, Massachusetts and Minnesota rounding out the top ten.
- There are another seven states that have more than 10,000 taps each year, making a total of 17 maple producing states with greater than 10,000 annual tap count. Four additional states have annual tap counts greater than 1,000 per year, according to USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service. Altogether, roughly 15 million taps are set out each year in the US. The US makes about 30% of North American (world) maple syrup each year.
- Canada has five provinces that have more than 10,000 taps each year - Quebec, New Brunswick, Ontario, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island. About 55 million taps are set out each year in Canada. Canada makes about 70% of North American (world) maple syrup.
- Quebec and Vermont are the largest maple syrup producers, with Quebec accounting for more than 90% of Canadian production, and Vermont more than 50% of US production.
Data from US Department of Agriculture, Agriculture Canada, and North American Maple Syrup Producers Manual
