“Maple Sugar Weekend” at GLSP
by Amy Modesti
Happy “Maple Sugar Weekend”!!! What better way to welcome in spring than with a two-day presentation about the history, production and distribution of maple sugar and its tasty treats at Grafton Lakes State Park.
On Saturday, March 20, guests who pre-registered in advance enjoyed learning about the origins of maple tapping (by volunteer, Doreen), production and distribution of maple syrup (by environmental educator, Tamara Beal), and the boiling of maple sugar from home (by Dan Hoffman of Stephentown).
Guests got to sample some xylem sap from a tapped maple tree and maple syrup, produced by Mark and Margaret Cipperly of Bulson Road Natural Sweeteners, held a birch bowl used to collect sap, and watched how sap was boiled on the burner to produce the maple syrup and maple candies we all come to love.
According to native folklore, the origin of maple tapping came from Indigenous Peoples of North America (Iroquois Native Americans). Legend has it that a Native American husband and wife were in the woods and the husband threw his tomahawk into a maple tree, pouring out sap. The wife collected that sap in a birch bowl. The wife and children carved out birch bowls and basins to collect and boil the sap during the winter season. The sap turned into sugar that provided flavoring to meat, maple syrup and maple candy. The making of maple sugar was passed down from Native Americans to European settlers who later refined some traditions of maple tapping with modern technology.
Happy Spring and Happy Maple Sugar Weekend from GLSP and The Eastwick Press.