Framingham Students Learn First Hand the Sweet Science of Syrup

Snow was falling on Thursday around the state on Thursday, but at Keefe Regional Technical High School, students were hard at work.

Before classes were let out on a half day at Keefe Tech, freshmen students in the school's Horticulture and Landscaping program built maple sap evaporators. When the equipment was built, the students were able to go outside and find sugar maple trees.

There were certain techniques that were critical for students to learn. Among them were what size tree could tolerate maple taps and how many taps could be placed on a particular tree. 

If too many taps are placed on a tree, it can take away too many nutrients, one of the program teachers said. Another difficult part of the task is identifying the sugar maples without their leaves.

Despite the difficult task, Keefe Tech students were able to install their first 25 taps on Thursday morning.

With the trees tapped, it's on to the next part of the process following school vacation.

The students have also learned what types of wood can be used for burning and boiling down the maple syrup. They then cut, split and haul the students to where they'll be making the syrup when they return from February break.

Editor's Note: This story was originally posted Friday at 6 a.m., but was temporarily removed. It was re-posted at 11:45 a.m.