Rather than dismantle the sugaring operation at the maple grove, which had been producing syrup for decades, the college decided to take over production.

It produced sugar, syrup and molasses, the latter used in making rum.

It can be preserved by boiling to produce syrup and by drying.

The lab was established to study all aspects of maple trees, and to help maple sugar makers produce syrup more efficiently, said Dr. Vogelmann.

Starch-bearing crops such as corn, wheat, sorghum and rice produce high-fructose syrup and may free people from dependence on traditional sugar sources.

This means that boiling birch sap to produce syrup can much more easily result in a scorched taste.

The same maples that produce syrup in spring, provide brilliant displays of colour in autumn.

Native to the northeastern United States, it produces maple syrup.

The first groups known to have produced maple syrup and maple sugar were indigenous peoples living in the northeastern part of North America.

Eric Randall's family has produced maple syrup for more than 150 years in the tree-covered hills between Buffalo and Rochester.