Bringing maple syrup to the masses
Maple syrup and maple sugar went from being a rarely enjoyed commodity to being a common purchase during the weekly trip to the grocery store.
Collection of the syrup in many of its forms was demonstrated Saturday at Succop Nature Park, where members of the Audubon Society of Western Pennsylvania showed visitors how they could collect their own maple syrup from trees right in their backyards.
The journey of the production of maple syrup began at the first station at the park, which showed how Native Americans would have gathered maple sugar from trees in the spring.
“Native Americans got the idea to use maple trees through yellow-bellied sap suckers, which is a type of bird that drills through trees,” said Chris Kubiak, director of education for the Audubon Society. “They noticed that sap is running in the spring. ... Folks can replicate this stuff, use a stove at home, boil it off and make their own sugar and syrup out of it.”
Kubiak said Pennsylvania is one of the leading maple syrup producers in the country, thanks to its unique spring climate consisting of cold nights and warm days. Trees produce sap in the cold and it is most potent in the early months of the year, Kubiak said.
Local residents still have a little more time to harvest sugar and syrup before the tree sap loses its quality.
“The quality of the sap and sugar is really distinctive to this area based on those conditions,” Kubiak said. “Once you start getting to the days where temps go above freezing, the sap loses its quality, it becomes skunky. You'll still get sap runs but it's not the same quality.”
Kubiak said the event got a decent turnout Saturday, despite the cold and snowy day. Kubiak encouraged people to tap their maple trees, especially if they have a sweet tooth.
“We do this every year in March, so if people missed it they can come next year,” Kubiak said.
