Monday, May 7, 2012

A Treat From Our Trees

The students from Spooner Area School District participated in special Fruit and Veggie of the presentation. On Monday April 23 the students learned all about the process of making maple syrup. The event was a huge success thanks to the incredible help from an outstanding volunteer and local maple syrup maker, Beth Emerson. Mrs. Emerson did a wonderful job teaching the students how they tapped the trees to gather the sap from their sugar maple trees at Emerson's Maple Hill Sugar Bush. She explained how Canada leads the United States in production of maple syrup and the importance of the maple tree to Canadians, putting a symbol of the maple leaf on their flag. She further described the importance of maple syrup production in Wisconsin and how our usually cool spring nights help create unique conditions for tapping trees. The students were excited to take part in an excerise where Mrs. Emerson demonstrated how maple sap was collected and carried by hand from the tree to a cooking station. She then showed the students through pictures the process used to cook the water from the sap and concentrate the sugars into maple syrup. Mrs. Emerson finished the lesson by explaining the nutrition that exists in real maple syrup versus maple flavored corn syrup. The students were then treated to a special snack of maple syrup granola. This gave the students the oppurtunity to taste the delicious maple syrup in a healthy manor.

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