Sugaring to Boiling to Syrup!

In February, as is now tradition, trees on campus were tapped, part of the long-standing tradition to make maple syrup from our trees. Because of the long stretches of warm winter, the sap flowed well and maple sugaring was well underway. Director of Outdoor Education Chris Henwood-Costa worked with her Lower School Farm + Forest classes to tap, monitor, taste, and collect the sap.

Then, in late February, Lower School students again took part in a historic tradition here at Westtown: the boiling of the sap collected from the trees. This tradition has been a part of Westtown for over 100 years! Henwood-Costa and Bruce Harrison ’81 led the boiling process, and gave Lower Schoolers sap to taste. Next, the sap was placed in kettles and taken to the kitchen for the final steps to become maple syrup! Did you know it takes about 40 gallons of sap to make one gallon of maple syrup?