Who is Echo Valley Sugarbush?

Echo Valley Sugarbush is our maple syrup division here one the farm. It is where we produce the worlds best sweetener on earth! 

Each year starting around the end of January we head to the woods to get ready for another year of collecting sap which we then boil down into maple syrup. 

The sugaring process
Tapping the tree: In late winter or early spring, a small, shallow hole is drilled into a mature maple tree's trunk. A spout, or "spile," is inserted into the hole to direct the sap.
Collecting the sap: When daytime temperatures rise above freezing but nights remain cold, pressure builds inside the tree, causing the sap to flow. The clear, watery sap drips from the spile into a bucket or a network of tubing that carries it to a large collection tank.
Transporting to the sugarhouse: The sap is taken to a sugarhouse for processing. We use vacuum pumps and a network of plastic tubing to transport the sap efficiently.

We then put it through a Reverse Osmosis to save time and fuel which removes about 80% of the water before boiling and evaporating: Afterwards the sap is pumped into a large, shallow pan called an evaporator and boiled over an intense fire. Because maple sap is about 98% water and only 2% sugar, it takes about 40 gallons of sap to produce a single gallon of syrup. The boiling process evaporates the water, which concentrates the sugar and develops the distinctive maple flavor through a chemical reaction called the Maillard reaction. 

Finishing and filtering: The liquid officially becomes maple syrup when it reaches a sugar concentration of 66–67%. The syrup is drawn off the evaporator and filtered to remove "sugar sand," a natural sediment of sugar crystals and minerals.
Grading and bottling: The filtered, finished syrup is graded by its color and flavor before being packaged. It is bottled while still hot to ensure freshness and shelf stability

How did maple syrup get discovered?

Indigenous peoples of northeastern North America discovered and developed the process of making maple syrup and sugar long before the arrival of Europeans
. While the exact origins are unknown, oral tradition and written accounts from the 17th century describe how they would collect sap and boil it down to create a sweetener. 
Several legends exist to explain the initial discovery:
The Chief's Tomahawk: An Iroquois legend tells of a chief who threw his tomahawk into a maple tree one winter evening. The next day, warm weather caused sap to flow from the gash and collect in a container. His wife, thinking it was water, used it to boil their evening meal. The concentrated sap flavored the meat, revealing the tree's sweet secret.
The Squirrel's Nibble: Another theory suggests that Native Americans observed how squirrels would bite into maple branches to drink the sweet sap. By imitating this behavior, they would have learned to tap the trees.
The Sapsicle: Some historians believe the discovery came from tasting frozen maple sap, or "sapsicles," that form from broken twigs in the cold. As the ice freezes, some of the water evaporates, leaving behind a naturally sweet, concentrated treat. 
Refining the process
Collecting the sap: Early methods included making a V-shaped cut in the tree's bark and using bark containers or pottery to collect the dripping sap.
Boiling it down: Indigenous people developed a labor-intensive process to remove excess water from the sap. Lacking metal pots, they would drop hot stones into birch bark or hollowed-out log containers filled with sap to make it boil.
Creating maple sugar: Because liquid syrup was difficult to store, it was more common to boil the sap until it crystallized into dry maple sugar. This was easier to preserve and transport and was used for trade and gifts. 
Passing the tradition to Europeans
When European colonists arrived, they learned the process of making maple sugar and syrup from Native Americans.
They adapted the techniques, using metal tools to drill holes and inserting wooden spouts ("spiles") to guide the sap into buckets. They also used iron kettles to boil the sap, making the process more efficient.