Book 3: Chapter 8-2: Maple Syrup

Book 3: Chapter 8-2: Maple Syrup

Did you wait long Cyril?

Lucy asked as she appeared before me with the other elves. I had called out the elves with good stamina including those from Nettle.

The members of Nettle were usually excused from any job except their training, but today was an exception. I needed as many people as I could gather for this task.

I had made it a special mission and only four members of Nettle who werent in Erucy did not come.

No, theres still time before we start. The Fire Foxes will come out soon so it looks like well be able to set out on time.

So Cyril, you said that we were going to collect the materials for our specialty products and for making alcohol today?

Lucy asked with a sparkle in her eyes. I had always emphasized the importance of this while keeping the particulars a secret so I she couldnt help but be curious.

Thats right. Itll be near the mountains. Ive been looking forward to it for a while. Its something amazing that we cant collect any other time except now.

As expected, you wont tell me yet.

Of course, youll just have to look forward to finding out.

Lucys shoulders drooped in disappointment.

Well, it wasnt really a big deal if I told her, but I had dragged it on this long already. Id have her wait until she saw the real thing.

They all followed my orders, placing down their jugs accordingly. Then one out of every three people got a 40 cm iron stick and a long sharp drill.

Go around and find a tree with a thicker trunk than the stick I gave you and begin collecting sap from it. You will use this to collect it.

I took out one of the hoses with 5 pointed metal pipe jointed on the end of it.

If we chose young trees with less than 40 cm of diameter the sap would be low in quality and quantity, plus it would be bad for the tree so I prepared 40 cm iron sticks to measure.

First you will use the drill I handed you to open a hole in the trunk. Once again, only choose a tree that is wider than the iron stick I gave you. If you use enough strength the drill will make it through the trunk. The drills have a marking on them, so only drill your way in up to that mark.

I said as I demonstrated, twisting the drill around until it entered the tree. After about 7 cm, the marking on the drill finally touched the interior of the tree.

Once you open the hole, take the pointed end of the hose and insert it into the drill.

I took one of the pointed ends and stuck it into the open end of the drill. The two parts came together tightly and stuck there. The drill and hose fit perfectly together since I had made them out of the same piece of metal.

I made the hoses with plenty of length so take the other four ends and stick them into other trees and leave the output end inside a jug. This completes the set up. In about five days each tree should produce about 30~40 liters of sap. This will then be turned into our specialty product which can be used to either make alcohol or sweet syrup called maple syrup.

Next to sugarcane and sugar daikon/beets one of the major sources of sugar from plants was maple syrup. This was what I had been waiting for anxiously.

In my opinion, just considering taste, it was better than sugar beets or sugarcane.

I had been overjoyed once I saw the maple trees when exploring around Erucy.furthermore they were sugar maples that produced large amounts of delicious sap.