Maple Syrup
Joe Settineri
The ice gets soft, the snow melts, and the green begins to appear. The time of year when the calendar says that it is still winter, but the weather screams spring. This change usually occurs in late April or early March, but can happen as soon as mid-February here in CNY. This year it looks as though we will get an early spring, as the groundhog predicted. Along with the new warm weather also comes the rising of the sap within the trees. The sugary substance acts as a nutrient and a catalyst in the growth of the buds, and eventually the leaves in the tree. Every tree has sap, it’s just the sugar maples that have the highest concentration of sugar.
Every year I usually tap trees around my house. I wait until mostly all-warm weather is in the forecast, but some commercial producers start much earlier. In this day and age, the practice of using buckets and spiles is outdated. The effort to manually empty and rehang the buckets is simply not efficient. However, I am stuck with the practice of lugging five gallon pals around my house every day. It it definitely a workout, and afterward your pants are sure to be soaked with the cold liquid. I tap about thirty trees every year, which often results in about four gallons of syrup. Every 30-40 gallons of sap are equivalent to about one gallon of syrup, which explain the small amount of the golden liquid and the high price at which it is sold at; sometimes Grade A syrup can go for over $120 a gallon.
The whole process is a lot of work, but the smell of the hot syrup after over twelve hours of boiling in my outside boiler makes the whole ordeal worth it. Also, since my family has pancakes every Sunday, it is certainly useful and tasty.
