American Culture Series 1 - Maple Syrup Do you know what maple syrup is? Have you put it on your pancakes or waffles before? Do you know the process of how it's made? As some of my students know, I work one half of each year as a farmer in Vermont, USA, and the other half of the year as a teacher in Mexico. I'm here to share about the process and culture of making one of Vermont's most famous farm products - Maple Syrup - as a way to help you learn English. Each year, farmers in Vermont produce over 3 million gallons of syrup! That's more than half of all the syrup in all of the USA. The climate in Vermont is perfect for producing the syrup because there is a long period in the early spring when temperatures are very cold, but above freezing. This causes the sap (In English this is the word for the sticky liquid inside of a tree) to move towards the leaves of the maple tree. Farmers then put a faucet into the tree. A faucet is the metal piece where the water comes out in a sink - yes a sink in your house like the kitchen or bathroom. However, this faucet has a special shape to collect sap (remember - the water from inside of the tree). Then, the farmer puts a bucket under the faucet and the sap flows from the tree, through the faucet, and into the bucket - just like filling up a pot of water in your kitchen sink. After the farmers collect sap from the tree they boil it for many hours until most of the water evaporates and what is left is maple syrup. 40 liters of sap from a tree will make 1 liter of syrup. Because it takes so long to boil and evaporate, farms often have a big party during this process with lots of food and music. Also, boiling the sap makes the entire room smell delicious - like sweet candy and pancakes. Do you have any questions? Did you learn any new words? Is there a food or craft from your culture that you would like to share? Let me know in the comments :)