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Cornell University : Cornell Cooperative Extension
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Maple Sugaring Time |
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February 27, 2002 Legend says maple syrup was first discovered by Native Americans, totally by chance. The story tells of a woman who found a container under a tree that was filled with what appeared to be water. Not wanting to waste it, she used it in preparing a meal and the resulting food had a sweet taste. The story continues that the substance had run out after a cut in the bark resulted from a hatchet being stored on the trunk of the tree. Sap continued to be collected, cooked and used as a sweetener from then on. There is no way to verify the story, but maple syrup has continued to be used in this part of North America since colonial times. Obviously, someone learned early on that the spring run of sap from maple trees could produce an exquisite, uniquely flavored sweetener. Maple syrup, with it's distinct flavor, is produced mainly in this portion of the country because the trees commonly used for syrup production, sugar, red and black maples, grow well here. In addition, the weather in this part of the world during the spring is also ideal for production of sap. This agricultural product, which some call liquid gold because of its cost, is a crop with a very narrow and precise production time line . Knowledge of the challenges of producing maple syrup may make the cost much more understandable. It may take 40 years to grow trees to the level of maturity needed for commercial production. Also, each tree produces a limited amount of sap each season. When daytime temperatures rise above 40 degrees and drop below freezing at night, the trees produce sap that is suitable for syrup making. When daytime temperatures rise higher, or are too high at night, the sap becomes unsuitable for making maple syrup. In some years, weather conditions reduce maple syrup production to nearly zero. Approximately 40 gallons of sap are needed to produce just one gallon of maple syrup and the amount of sap produced varies from year to year, even on the same tree. Commercial producers often use systems of plastic tubing rather than buckets on individual trees to collect sap, threading the tubes through the sugarbush into large covered containers. The traditional method can still be seen in the spring throughout Yates County though. Either method uses taps in the trees, changing the spots that are tapped on each tree from year to year. After a large enough quantity of sap is collected, it is transferred to an evaporator and boiled to reduce the amount of water in it. Fast processing can produce higher quality syrup, but care must be taken to avoid scorching the product during evaporation. Commercial evaporators may use wood, fuel oil or propane as fuel. Keeping the collected sap under refrigeration before boiling down adds months to the season. During the evaporation process, sap becomes syrup when it reaches 66 to 67 percent sugar content. Below this percentage, the syrup can sour quickly. When the correct sugar content is achieved, the syrup is filtered to remove a gritty material called sugar sand, then canned while still hot. A word of caution to anyone who manages to have some sap to produce at home. A gloriously boiling pot of sap can boil over into a raging torrent of hot, sticky goo that can coat nearly every inch of the stove in the blink of an eye, resulting in little or no maple syrup and hours of taming the resulting mess. There are several grades of maple syrup with corresponding difference in price. In addition to making pancakes or french toast an epicurean experience, this natural sweetener can be used for sweetening everything from breakfast food to vegetables. A dash of real maple syrup (and a pinch of French tarragon) on steamed carrots is a veggie delight. One cookbook recommended hard boiling eggs in boiling syrup. It takes longer for the maple flavor to penetrate the shell but when it does the eggs are delicious. In addition to syrup, there is a wide variety of maple products on the market now that range from the familiar maple leaf shaped maple sugar candy to ice cream toppings, granulated maple sugar and even maple mustard. Several area maple syrup producers open their sugar houses during syrup time to allow the public to see how syrup is produced. Information about these events is usually listed in local media. Master
Gardeners are available to answer your lawn and garden questions.
Call the Extension Office at 315-536-5123 and leave a message with
your question and a time we can call you back. We will research the
subject for you. Don't forget GardenScape 2002 March 14-17 at the
Dome Arena in Henrietta (Rochester) and our own Lawn and Garden Day
April 6 at the Penn Yan Middle School. See you there! www.cce.cornell.edu/yates/mgindex.htm.
Cornell
Cooperative Extension Yates Association |
