Producing Maple Syrup has been done long before Europeans came to North America. Native americans developed the process, cooking venison with maple sap for special occasions.
Although adjusted since colonial times, the process remains similar and simple. Maple sap is collected from Maple trees and boiled down to produce pure syrup without chemical agents or preservatives.
In spite of this simplicity, there is an art to making maple syrup to ensure the proper sugar content. If the sap is boiled too long it will crystalize; not long enough and it will be watery.
Once the boiling is complete, the syrup is filtered to remove any sugar pieces that can occur during boiling. The syrup is then packaged in metal, glass or coated plastic packages.
Maple sugar, maple butter or cream, and maple candy are made by heating the sap longer and further processing it to create the various textures of these other maple products.