First Nations peoples used a
tomahawk to make a v-shaped cut in a tree trunk. They would then insert a spigot or a bent piece of bark to direct the sap into a birch bark container. They boiled the sap they collected in clay pots to make maple syrup. The syrup was then drunk as a sweet beverage or used in cooking, as it was full of energy and nutrients.
The first white settlers and fur traders introduced wooden buckets and cooking pots of iron and copper to the syrup making process. Later, they replaced the spigot and bark with handmade taps from which they hung the buckets.
Today, over 85% of maple producers use a system of vacuum tubes, and every producing tree is connected to this network. The tubes carry the sap under the force of gravity down to a pumping station at the lowest point in the sugar bush. All that’s left to do is pump the sap to the sugar shack for processing into maple syrup.
