If you’ve driven along any country roads over the past few weeks you’ve probably noticed metal buckets hanging from maple trees collecting sap for maple syrup production. They are as sure a sign of spring as snowdrops. New England is the center of all things maple and this annual rite of spring has arrived early.
The Massachusetts maple sugar season officially began on March 4 with a kick-off in Conway and a gubernatorial declaration that March is Maple Month. Because of the mild weather conditions this year, syrup producers were able to begin tapping trees in February and are already hard at work boiling down sap to make syrup. Last year, by contrast, the late winter weather was so cold that production did not begin until late March.
According to Winton Pitcoff, coordinator of the Massachusetts Maple Producers Association, there are approximately 300 maple sugar producers in the state, including commercial operations and hobbyists. Commercial producers have as many as 10,000 taps and use plastic tubing to collect sap. Home producers generally tap 25 to 30 trees per season and are more likely to use buckets, depending on the location of their trees.
Once the sap is tapped, the reduction process begins. It takes roughly 40 gallons of sap to produce a gallon of syrup, but this depends on the sugar content of the sap, which can vary from less than 1 percent up to 2 or even 3 percent. The amount of sap that runs in the spring depends on weather conditions. “We need cold nights and warm days to get it flowing,” explained Pitcoff. “The forecast is good so far.”
Many producers now cut down on boiling time by using “reverse osmosis machines” that remove a significant amount of water from the sap before the boiling begins. The price of wood and oil for boiling are the biggest costs in producing syrup, according to Pitcoff.
He said that last year the state produced 75,000 gallons of syrup, up from 62,000 gallons in 2014. But this is nowhere near the amount that was produced before the Civil War. In 1860, the country produced 40 million pounds of dried maple sugar and 1.6 million gallons of syrup. Back then, he said, there was no corn syrup and cane sugar was expensive.
Maple syrup production has a long history in New England. Native Americans were already making maple sugar when the Europeans first arrived, and the new settlers adopted the practice.
They boiled it down to sugar, which was easier to store than syrup, and kept the sugar in blocks, chipping it off as needed. In the late 18th century, Quakers advocated maple sugar as an alternative to cane sugar produced by slave labor in the West Indies. Thomas Jefferson also championed maple syrup and attempted to farm sugar maple trees in Virginia, but the project failed, presumably because the climate was too mild for syrup production. Cane sugar and corn syrup eventually became more economical than maple syrup, and our taste buds are all the poorer for it.
It’s time to enjoy this season’s freshly made syrup. Many local sugarhouses are open on weekends serving hearty pancake breakfasts. It’s a wonderful family outing, and a welcome reminder of why we put up with New England winters. Some sugarhouses advertise in the newspaper. For a complete listing see the Massachusetts Maple Producers Association’s website: massmaple.org.
And next time you’re in the kitchen about to reach for the sugar, try maple syrup instead. Its culinary uses are endless, from baked goods to roasted meats and vegetables. (OK, I used to be a food writer.) Bon appétit!
Old Sturbridge Village is always a wonderful and inspiring place to visit, and on April 2 from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. you can attend OSV’s annual garden symposium. Regional horticultural experts will share their tips, tricks and techniques for bringing new life to your garden this season. Topics will include backyard-chicken-keeping for gardeners, an historical perspective on eating what you grow, and improving your garden soil sustainably. Drake Patten, proprietor of Cluck!, an urban farm supply shop in Providence, Rhode Island, will give the keynote address, “Finding Your Inner Farmer: How Your Backyard can Change the Future of Food.”
The cost is $40 for members; $50 for non-members. For an additional $13.75, participants can purchase a boxed lunch.
Go to osvinfo@osv.org or call 508-347-5056 for more information.
If you’ve been thinking about planting fruit trees, you might want to check out the Home Orchard Basics workshop at Berkshire Botanic Garden in Stockbridge on April 1 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Expert Michael Phillips of Lost Nation Orchard in New Hampshire will talk about all aspects of the home orchard, from plant selection to soil health and responsible pest management. He will explain how all sorts of fruits — from apples, pears,and peaches to cherries and berries — can be part of a diverse, and fruitful, home-orchard planting. Phillips is the author of “The Apple Growers: A Guide for the Organic Orchardist and The Holistic Orchard: Tree Fruits and Berries the Biological Way”.
The cost is $125.
Aspiring orchardists might also be interested in a BBG-sponsored workshop on pruning pome and stone fruit trees as well as cane fruits and currants for home fruit production. Pruning for fruit, unlike the pruning of ornamental fruit trees, is a science, involving pruning for shape and size, as well as for flower and fruit production. The hands-on workshop will be led by Steve McKay, the former Grape and Small Fruit Specialist for Cornell Cooperative Extension and owner of Micosta, a fruit nursery located in Hudson, New York, that specializes in traditional and unusual varieties of edible fruits.
The workshop will take place April 2 in Sheffield.
The cost is $45 for members; $50 for non-members.
For more information and to register for these workshops, go to berkshirebotanical.org.
Mickey Rathbun can be reached at foxglover8@gmail.com.