by Bea Peterson
Maple syrup making can start from early to mid-February and can last until the end of April. It is all weather dependent. Perfect maple syrup making weather requires nighttime temperatures in the mid-20s and daytime temperatures in the mid-40s. As everyone in this area knows, we haven’t had many warm days, and the nights have been colder than usual.
[private]The last two weekends in March were Maple Weekends in several states.
At Ioka Valley Farm in Hancock, MA, on Saturday, March 29, steam was pouring out of the sugar house as the newest giant maple evaporator was going full tilt creating 50 gallons of syrup in an hour. Inside the Calf-a folks were enjoying pancakes, waffles and French toast covered with real, honest to goodness maple syrup, made right on the farm.
Inside the sugar house the process of making syrup and the quality of the syrup was explained.
For the uninitiated, and according to the handouts, Grade A Light Amber, known as “maple bouquet,” has a very delicate but clear maple flavor. It is usually made early in the season when the weather is coldest. This syrup is used to make maple candy, maple cream and other delicate sweets.
Grade A Medium Amber is the most popular grade of table syrup and has a more pronounced maple flavor. It’s generally made about mid-season.
Grade A Dark Amber has a deep color and a stronger maple flavor. It is great as table syrup and works well for baked goods. It is usually made later in the season.
Grade B syrup is very dark and intensely flavored and is most often used for cooking and is made late in the season.
Usually the maple season runs eight weeks and allows two weeks for the making of each grade of syrup. In a year like this one each grade may be made in just a few days each.
In Berlin, NY, on Saturday, Kent Goodermote and Todd Hewitt were making syrup for only the fifth time this season. Kent was explaining the process to visitors who were out enjoying the Maple Weekend. He and Todd use the very same process Kent’s father showed Kent many years before.
Dick and Walter Ogden of Running Brook Sugar Shack in Hoosick were also making syrup on Saturday. They were boiling for only the eighth time this season. On Wednesday they were boiling again, expecting to make at least 20 gallons that day. At this point their production is way off from last year. Though Dick uses the latest techniques, including reverse osmosis and a Steam-Away cover over the evaporator to reduce boiling time, he still taps a few of the trees the old fashioned way and hangs buckets on those trees.
The season will last as long as the weather holds and until the trees begin to bud. It won’t be until season’s end that the syrup makers will know if they have a good yield or not. Only Mother Nature knows for sure.
Maple Facts
• A quarter cup of maple syrup has more calcium than the same amount of milk and more potassium than a banana.
• A quarter cup of maple syrup has 216 calories and contains 95 percent of a person’s daily need of manganese, 37 percent of riboflavin, 6 percent of zinc, 7 percent of magnesium, 5 percent of calcium and 5 percent of potassium. That is much more than corn syrup, honey brown star or white sugar have to offer.
• A quarter cup of white sugar, for example, has 196 calories, and its only nutritional value is 1 percent riboflavin.
• The sap from the maple trees looks like water. It takes approximately 40 to 43 gallons of sap to make one gallon of maple syrup.
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