Shipping Delays: Because the syrup production season is our busiest time of year, some shipments may be slower than usual. If you have a deadline or questions feel free to email josh@sterlingvalleymaple.com to confirm shipment times. Meanwhile, know that we are working to ship your orders as quickly as possible while keeping up with the demands of the sugaring season.

Making Maple Granulated Sugar

We get a lot of interest out of the chemistry and science involved in the different processes of making syrup and maple products. When making granulated maple sugar, we think one of the coolest things is seeing the release of heat energy as the sugar crystallizes.

Crystallization is an inherently exothermic reaction.  This means that it is a reaction that releases heat. We see the opposite of this all the time in real life: any time we see a solid melt into a liquid we are familiar with it being a reaction that needs heat added.  It doesn't make as much intuitive sense that when a liquid converts to a solid that heat is released, but we do know that the heat energy that we add to solid to convert it to the liquid can't disappear- instead, that energy is stored in the liquid and must be released as the liquid goes to a solid.

In this video you can see that when the concentrated syrup mixture changes to a solid there is a release of heat: the heat is released as steam that causes the syrup to bubble and foam.  We hope you'll find it as interesting as we do!

Leave a comment

Please note, comments must be approved before they are published