News Release

Maple Weekend 2011

March 19 & 20 and March 26 & 27

Maple Weekend visitors learned about the various steps in collecting sap at Kirsch's Maple in Varyburg where they have approximately 6 miles of sap lines that flow into a gathering tank.

At Sage's Family Maple Products in Dale they served pancakes with fresh, hot maple syrup.

Stop by Merle Maple in Attica for a variety of maple products after a walk through of their syrup making display.

To view more photos, click here:

The 16th Annual New York Maple Weekend kicked off on Saturday March 19th, offering a mouth-watering variety of maple syrup and maple products, set in an atmosphere of family fun with a bit of education thrown in.

Dress warm, wear boots (it can be muddy), and bring the whole family! Maple Weekend continues through March 26 and 27.

The first thing you will notice when entering a sugar house where sap is boiling is the delicate fragrance of sweet maple. It’s a scent not easily forgotten, especially when reinforced by a delicious sample of maple syrup! Some of the producers offer pancakes with hot maple syrup, fresh off the evaporator; others provide samples of maple-sweetened nuts, cookies, mustards, maple cream, molded maple sugar and a variety of other maple treats. At one stop visitors can even find home-made bread, freshly baked in a wood-fired oven next to the maple arch, and slathered with maple cream. Of course, all of these products are available for purchase as well – and are flying off the shelves. Don’t forget to pick up some maple recipes too!

Maple syrup is a great, natural substitute for sugar, and can be used on many foods. Use 1 cup maple syrup for 1 cup white sugar and reduce liquid in recipe by 3 Tablespoons for each cup of syrup used. Maple sugar can replace white sugar in equal amounts.

Also available on Maple Weekend are displays and examples of sugar-making equipment, such as tubing, taps, drop lines, gathering tanks, and other related equipment. The older method of sap gathering by bucket can also be seen in some places. In the sugar house, boiling is accomplished with a number of fuels, including oil and wood. Evaporators of all kinds are on display, and their method and management are described and explained by owners. Producers are happy to answer questions about the process, from sugar-bush management to sap-gathering to bottling and marketing.

From its start in Wyoming County, Maple Weekend has grown enormously, and is now a statewide event. Wyoming County boasts 15 participating producers, and neighboring counties are home to 27 additional maple producers, all featuring their maple production in action. For locations of participating producers near you, click here http://www.mapleweekend.com/

Maple Facts Maple Sap, from which syrup is made, only runs in the early spring. Only about 10% of a tree’s sap is gathered each year. Gathering this sap does the tree no harm. The first settlers learned to boil sap and make syrup and sugar from the native Indians in the northeast. Though the process still requires the reduction of sap, methods have changed greatly through the years. It takes about 40 gallons of sap to make one gallon of syrup. A sugar concentration of about 67% means the sap has become syrup! To learn more about maple production, click here http://maple.dnr.cornell.edu/produc/index.htm The June 2010 USDA Reports show 2009 New York State production at 439,000 gallons, a crop value of $17,823,000.

Mark your calendars for next year’s Maple Weekend: Saturday and Sunday March 17 & 18, and March 24 & 25, 2012. Fun for the whole family!

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Check out the new NYS Maple Producers website at http://www.nysmaple.com.

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