The purpose of this blog is sweeten Shabbat table conversation. Please print and share...
Happy Birthday shoutout to Emuna!
Please note - our forthcoming book - Body & Soul: Torah Health and Fitness, Medically Annotated - is complete and being prepared for publication. We are crowdfunding the project - including a youth version, videos, etc. - by printing dedications inside the book. If you would like to participate in this mitzvah and honor a loved one, please click here and here.
Happy Birthday shoutout to Emuna!
Please note - our forthcoming book - Body & Soul: Torah Health and Fitness, Medically Annotated - is complete and being prepared for publication. We are crowdfunding the project - including a youth version, videos, etc. - by printing dedications inside the book. If you would like to participate in this mitzvah and honor a loved one, please click here and here.
This time of year, maple syrup is on my mind.
And often around now I'm nonplussed when someone I know reveals that they have never tasted real maple syrup.
Anyone who has tasted pure maple syrup knows that it rivals chocolate for the status of the main reason why God created the universe.
Yet here's a stumper for your table - Do you know how maple syrup is made?
The maple syrup story starts in spring and summer when the tree is full of leaves and via the magic of photosynthesis, creating energy that we call sugar.
It uses a lot of that sugar to grow bigger and taller. But it stores some of that energy in its roots in the form of starch.
In the fall of course it drops its leaves and goes dormant.
During dormancy, trees develop freeze-resistance through cellular changes. They dehydrate their cells, convert starches into sugary antifreezes, increase fatty acids (which keep cells supple), and are thus able to withstand temperatures far below freezing.
Then at a certain time - here in Maryland in mid-February, farther north, in March/April - the tree starts to bring that sugar up through tubes near the trunk. It must do this in order to have the energy to produce the new leaves in the spring.
Question for your table - How does the tree know when to start pumping sap up from the roots?
Here's a clue: It occurs when the temperature is below freezing at night and above freezing during the day.
Still can't figure it out?
Don't feel bad, it's not at all obvious. Here's a summary:
During the warm (above freezing) days, living cells convert that starch into sugar. They also generate carbon dioxide gas. This gas diffuses into the xylem. As the temperature cools at night, the gas dissolves, lowering the pressure and pulling the sugary water from the living cells into xylem. This water is replaced from adjacent cells, which form a conveyor belt for water down to the roots. As night comes and the temperature drops further, water freezes along the inside walls of the xylem and in between its cells. The remaining gas is compressed and locked in this ice. With morning, things warm, the gases expand and force the now liquid sap out of the trunk or stem and into the tap. As the day cools in the afternoon, the process repeats itself. The process stops when the temperature remains above freezing and the buds begin to open.
So that's the first part of the magic.
But if you tap a tree and taste the sap, it tastes nearly like pure water, not at all sweet. In order to convert it to syrup, it has to be boiled way, way down - to the tune of 40:1. I.e., it takes 40 cups of sap to make one cup of syrup.
I assume that whoever discovered this secret stumbled upon it by random accident.
Question for your table - Could it have been a random accident, or was it meant to be?
Anyone who has tasted pure maple syrup knows that it rivals chocolate for the status of the main reason why God created the universe.
Yet here's a stumper for your table - Do you know how maple syrup is made?
The maple syrup story starts in spring and summer when the tree is full of leaves and via the magic of photosynthesis, creating energy that we call sugar.
It uses a lot of that sugar to grow bigger and taller. But it stores some of that energy in its roots in the form of starch.
In the fall of course it drops its leaves and goes dormant.
During dormancy, trees develop freeze-resistance through cellular changes. They dehydrate their cells, convert starches into sugary antifreezes, increase fatty acids (which keep cells supple), and are thus able to withstand temperatures far below freezing.
Then at a certain time - here in Maryland in mid-February, farther north, in March/April - the tree starts to bring that sugar up through tubes near the trunk. It must do this in order to have the energy to produce the new leaves in the spring.
Question for your table - How does the tree know when to start pumping sap up from the roots?
Here's a clue: It occurs when the temperature is below freezing at night and above freezing during the day.
Still can't figure it out?
Don't feel bad, it's not at all obvious. Here's a summary:
During the warm (above freezing) days, living cells convert that starch into sugar. They also generate carbon dioxide gas. This gas diffuses into the xylem. As the temperature cools at night, the gas dissolves, lowering the pressure and pulling the sugary water from the living cells into xylem. This water is replaced from adjacent cells, which form a conveyor belt for water down to the roots. As night comes and the temperature drops further, water freezes along the inside walls of the xylem and in between its cells. The remaining gas is compressed and locked in this ice. With morning, things warm, the gases expand and force the now liquid sap out of the trunk or stem and into the tap. As the day cools in the afternoon, the process repeats itself. The process stops when the temperature remains above freezing and the buds begin to open.
So that's the first part of the magic.
But if you tap a tree and taste the sap, it tastes nearly like pure water, not at all sweet. In order to convert it to syrup, it has to be boiled way, way down - to the tune of 40:1. I.e., it takes 40 cups of sap to make one cup of syrup.
I assume that whoever discovered this secret stumbled upon it by random accident.
Question for your table - Could it have been a random accident, or was it meant to be?
Here's a harder question for your table - Would the beracha (blessing) on maple syrup be the same as an apple - borei pre ha'eitz - who has created the fruit of the tree?
Shabbat Shalom
PS - the above image is from the Library of Congress: making maple syrup in Vermont, 1906.
PPS - If you'd like to try tapping a tree, click on the image.
Shabbat Shalom
PS - the above image is from the Library of Congress: making maple syrup in Vermont, 1906.
PPS - If you'd like to try tapping a tree, click on the image.
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