Centuries-old practice of maple sugaring demonstrated
BUFFALO TWP — More than 30 children and adults learned Saturday how maple syrup makes it from a tree to a pile of pancakes.
Maple Madness, an Audubon Society of Western Pennsylvania event, was held at Buffalo Creek Nature Park.
Those attending visited four stations that detailed the history of maple sugaring. All 30-plus people who signed up for the program in advance donned their raingear and braved a steady drizzle to learn about turning maple sap into sticky, sweet syrup.
At the first station, Chris Kubiak, Audubon Society of Western Pennsylvania education director, told interested children and their parents that Native Americans made sugar from the sap of maple trees, as syrup had not yet been invented.
The sugar was pressed into a brick, sealed in bear fat, placed in a deep hole in the earth and covered with clay.
“It would last forever, and they would trade that,” Kubiak said.
The maple sugar was of great value because honeybees had not yet been imported to North America, and sugar cane was far from becoming the main sweetener on the continent.
In the second tent, families learned the first Europeans who came to America hundreds of years ago did not know maple sugar came from trees, as maple trees are not native to Europe.
“The pioneers’ knowledge of maple sugar came from the Native Americans,” said Nelson Milano, the society’s watershed coordinator, who was dressed in frontier clothing.
He demonstrated how the maple sap would be carried in two wooden buckets connected to either end of a yoke that fit across a person’s shoulders to the cauldron to be boiled down.
Boiling cooked off the water in the sap, leaving only the sweet syrup.
“Sometimes we go to the grocery store and see these items and take for granted how much energy and time it took to make them,” Milano said.
Milano demonstrated how pioneers lit fires with steel and flint, and allowed attendees to try making sparks using the primitive system.
At the third station, which was inside the park’s Babcock Nature Center, those in attendance learned maple sap must be gathered in the early spring, when the sap has not yet reached the tree’s buds.
Attendees learned there are 150 species of maple trees, 13 of which grow in North America. Of those 13 species, eight grow in Pennsylvania.
Maple trees must be at least 10 to 12 inches in diameter to place one tap, 18 inches for two taps, and 30 inches for three taps.
There are never more than three taps in one tree per season, and placing the tap is a very exact science because it must not be too shallow or too deep.
Sap collection vessels have gone from wooden buckets in centuries past, to metal buckets, to plastic tubes that go right into the maple tree.
The fourth and final station was set up in the nature park’s large pavilion, where Karen Stein, the Audubon Society’s Butler County director, tended to a boiling pan of maple sap.
She allowed the children to help read the digital thermometer and explained that pure maple syrup has no added ingredients, while commercially produced syrups contain everything but actual maple.
She said because it takes so many arduous steps to make, pure maple syrup is more expensive than the commercially produced variety.
“So if your parents buy you pure maple syrup, you should give them a big hug,” Stein said.
She said it takes 50 gallons of maple sap to make one gallon of pure maple syrup, and that a drop or two of cooking oil removes any foam that might appear on the boiling sap.
Stein said Native Americans and pioneers hung a ham hock over their cauldrons so a scant amount of oil would drip in and prevent foam from forming.
People were given a chance to taste two different syrups. One was pure maple syrup and the other was a commercially produced variety.
Almost everyone in attendance guessed which was which.
“What I really like doing is giving kids sugar shots and then sending them home,” Stein said as the parents laughed and rolled their eyes.
The Madeano family, of McCandless Township, Allegheny County, enjoyed each stage of the event.
“It’s such a unique experience, to be able to see the history of maple sugaring,” said Kate Madeano, who attended with her husband, Paul, and children A.J., 8, and Maya, 6.
Maya most enjoyed learning that maple sugar was made into bricks and stored underground by Native Americans.
She also liked the owl-themed outdoor decorations at the nature park.
“It’s cool,” Maya said.
A.J. said he was interested to learn all about maple sugaring, even in the rain.
“It was very cool and interesting,” he said.
A.J. carried the wooden buckets on the yoke for a few minutes, and could only imagine being a lad 200 years ago who had to make multiple trips from the trees to the cauldron with full buckets.
“I would need to take a 5-minute break,” he said.
Phil Dicicco, of Coraopolis, Allegheny County, also brought his young family to Maple Madness.
“We like birds and saw the Audubon Society was doing this,” he said of attending the event. “Also, we read books on John James Audubon, so it was natural for us to check (the nature park) out.”
He was most interested to learn that maple sap was made into sugar in centuries past, and that syrup is a relatively new product.
Dicicco said he will definitely return to Buffalo Creek Nature Park in the summer.
“It’s a drive, but it’s definitely nice up here,” he said.
Maple Madness also will be held at the society’s Beechwood Farms Nature Reserve next Saturday, March 16, and at Succop Nature Park in Penn Township on Saturday, March 23.
Registration for any Audubon Society of Western Pennsylvania event is available at aswp.org.
