sap has been collected from a sugar bush, it is transported to
the sugar house and boiled down to create maple syrup. A sugar
house contains a storage tank, an evaporator, and a fuel supply.
Fresh sap contains approximately 1-6% sugar, while maple syrup
contains about 66-67%. To increase the sugar concentration of
sap - and create syrup - many gallons of water need to be
removed from the sap. The evaporator is the device that heats
the sap and boils off this excess water. Did you know that to
produce one gallon of syrup, producers have to boil off 32 to 40
gallons of water? The storage tanks houses the sap until the
producer is ready to use it, and the fuel supply - oil, wood,
electricity, or natural gas - provides the heat source for the
evaporator. Most sugar houses also contain facilities to store
and package their syrup or produce other products such as maple
sugar. Many producers give tours or market their products in
their sugar houses.