We’re a little maple syrup obsessed lately. It could be that we love to eat it, but more likely it is that the conditions that make the sap run mean spring is finally arriving. It takes daytime temperatures above freezing and nighttime temperatures at or below freezing, consistently for a few days. The thaw a couple of weeks ago got our hopes up, but it didn’t last. Now, it looks like the real deal. At least one farm nearby was boiling (sap) yesterday.
Also, the Dawes Arboretum’s annual “Maple Syrup Madness” event officially began last weekend.
Maple Syrup Madness
If you’ve never been, go. It’s a splendid opportunity to get out of the house and enjoy the Arboretum. It’s free to the public. Just park and hit the trail. The “madness” is a self-guided tour through a sugar maple grove where you will see various methods of sap collection and learn fun facts about syrup production through the years.
For instance, did you ever wonder if tapping harmed the trees? A cross-section of a sugar maple tree shows how the holes from the spiles (spouts or taps) remain even while the tree heals around them. Trees cannot be tapped in the same spot year after year, and it’s recommended that even the stoutest trees not have more than three taps. Trees smaller than 10 inches in diameter shouldn’t be tapped at all, they say. Wait for your saplings to mature.
The highlight of the tour is the sugar shack where they have a brand new shiny evaporator. There are volunteers operating the evaporator and fielding all kinds of questions. The evaporator is fueled by propane, but a cozy fire is usually going in the fireplace. You’ll learn how to tell the difference between pure maple and what is called pancake or table syrup.
When you’re done, you can walk back to the Visitor’s Center and buy maple products from a pretty dazzling array of them on display. Ironically, the syrup produced on the Arboretum grounds is not for sale because their sugar shack has a wood floor. A law stipulates that sugar shacks must have concrete floors, or so I’m told, but I have not done any research on that subject. I imagine that hobbyists who want to “go pro” and sell their syrup would have their work cut out for them figuring out how to comply with food safety regulations.
For us home producers…
For us home producers, the internet is full of articles and videos about the myriad ways folks go about the business of gathering and boiling. People collect sap in all sorts of things including plastic milk jugs. They boil on electric stoves, gas stoves, wood stoves, in homemade evaporators and on open fires. They decant in everything from custom containers to jelly jars. It seems like there’s no right or wrong, except the obvious; that you’re dealing with boiling sugar (!!) and you have to exercise more than a modicum of common sense and caution. So, what’s the best part? My husband says it’s being in his woods checking his taps and pondering the differences between what each tree produces during it’s day. I like that too, and the fire in the woodstove when we boil. And Belgian waffles when we’re done.
And in case you’re not convinced yet about spring, here’s a snowdrop, and some more from a day at the Arboretum.
Projects & Promises 