U of MN Landscape Arboretum Tapping

The University of Minnesota Landscape Arboretum is having their annual pancake brunch with pure maple syrup this weekend and giving tapping demonstrations and tours of the sugar house. The place was mobbed with people. The dining room was filled to capacity and a waiting line was strung out in the halls. They opened classrooms for overflow dining.

They just started evaporating yesterday (Friday 27 March). When I went through the sugar house they hadn't drawn off any syrup yet today at 11 AM. They didn't start up until 9:30 AM. What sap they collected was from the prior week and it wasn't much. They had been saving up operations so they would have some this weekend. The tanks had ice in them and the sacks on the trees were pretty well frozen from the temperatures that had dropped into the teens overnight.

They said they had 175 trees connected to a tubing system. I know they tapped a few more trees themselves with individual sacks but most of the sacks were done by grade school groups on maple syrup tours. Their operations are mostly for educational purposes.

It was evident from the demonstrations that a lot of individuals by the questions they were asking were interested in doing their own tapping as I did this year. There is growing awareness. The Star Tribune newspaper had a feature on tapping in their weekly "Taste" food section this week. Maybe hard times brings out the do it yourself aspect in us but sadly I don't see how one could save any money doing it yourself. Now bread baking can be a money saver. :)