When I was a child, my sister and I knew spring had finally arrived the day we went to visit my grandfather in his sugarhouse. Every year, in late February, he would trek through the deep, melting snow in his sugarbush, tapping the maple trees and collecting the sap. Then he would begin the laborious production of boiling the sweet water down to maple syrup. In the sugarhouse, the air hummed with the sounds of the gigantic steel evaporator at work and the animated conversation of family and friends. My sister and I were allowed to run free; we played tag, threading through the legs of the oblivious adults, our winter-stiff limbs aching with the joy of unhindered movement. When we finally tired of the game we were each rewarded with a small paper cup full of fresh, warm maple syrup; the sweet taste of spring.

Maple Syrup's History:

Legend has it that maple syrup production in the North Country originated when a Native American chief threw his tomahawk at a maple tree in early spring. Sap ran from the wound, and happened to collect in a vessel beneath the tree. When the chief's family found the vessel, they believed it to be filled with water and used it to boil venison. Upon eating it, they discovered that both the meat and the liquid remaining in the vessel were sweet and flavorful. Angry chief aside, this tale accurately outlines the crude process of maple syrup production practiced by Native Americans and taught to early European settlers. A large gash was inflicted upon the trunk of a maple tree and its sap filtered out through a piece of bark into a small wooden vessel. The sap was then transported by hand to the boiling site, usually a dugout log, it was then heated with stones that had been sitting in a fire. The heat from the stones caused the sugar in the sap to concentrate; when the rest of the sap had evaporated, maple syrup remained. While functional, this rudimentary system of maple syrup production was grossly inefficient. Sap is composed primarily of water, most of which must be boiled off in order to produce maple syrup (approximately forty gallons of sap contribute to one gallon of maple syrup). Early European settlers had neither the equipment nor the agricultural knowledge necessary to maximize sap collection; for the practice of gashing a tree trunk, with an axe, to enable sap flow, left the maple unfit for sap production for more than one season.

Eventually the settlers began to use a brace n' bit to make a harmless tap hole in the maple trunk, through which sap ran from metal spouts to a bucket hung on the tree. Horse and oxen teams were used to haul large metal vessels from the sugarbush to the boiling site. Sap was boiled in metal cauldrons suspended over an open fire, and later in flat-bottomed brick pans, designed to increase the surface area of sap directly above the fire.

In the 1860's modern technology spurred the invention of the first sap evaporator, in which sectional dividers allowed cold sap to be run in at one end and maple syrup drawn off at the other. The removal of the finished product from the rest of the sap resulted in a much higher quality syrup and the modern evaporator, while considerably different from its ancestors, still represents one of the greatest innovations in maple syrup production. Eventually tractors replaced teams of horse and oxen as the primary means of sap transportation, and in the 1950's power tapping machines replaced the brace n' bit. By the 1960's vacuum pumps and plastic tubing systems were transporting sap directly from the trees to the sugarhouse. A host of modern innovations, including reverse osmosis systems, sap pre-heaters, pressure filters, and canning machines are still being improved today.

The Science of Syrup:

While the methodology of maple syrup production has changed dramatically since its inception, modern producers are just as dependent on the right climactic conditions as their Native American precursors. For maximum sap collection, it is crucial that temperatures during the maple season rise above the freezing point during the day and fall below the freezing point at night. During the warm days of the six week maple season, sap, which conducts water and nutrients throughout the maple, flows through the outer tree trunk, or sapwood. In response to the sap flow, the sapwood produces enough carbon monoxide to cause sufficient pressure for the sap to flow out of the tree when wounded. At night, when temperatures drop below freezing, the carbon dioxide in the sapwood cools and begins to contract. Some carbon dioxide then dissolves into the sap, causing some of it to freeze. These chemical changes in the carbon monoxide and sap cause enough suction in the sugar maple's trunk to draw water up from the soil, which travels into the sapwood and becomes sap; the new sap begins to flow again as soon as the temperature rises. If temperatures are too warm or too cool during the maple season, producers will not be able to collect enough sap for their projected syrup yield. While maples are not the only trees that produce sap, only sugar maple sap has a high enough concentration of sugar to produce syrup. It is the combination of sucrose and amino acids in the maple sugar sap that give maple syrup its rich, distinct flavor.

Maple Syrup Production Today:

Every spring, the air in my family's sugarhouse still hums with conversation and work. The reasons why my family produces maple syrup are not that different from the reasons people sugared in the North Country three hundred years ago. Judy Sanger, my aunt, likes "to be outside after a long winter, to smell the air in the woods and be with family." Maple syrup production has long served as an effective "spring tonic," during which friends and family gather to enjoy the outdoors after a claustrophobic winter and socialize through work.

With only 1,000 taps in the sugarbush,"we're not the big dogs," says Lee Sanger, proprietor of Sanger's Sugarhouse, "we do this because we love it, and because it's what our family has always done." Evidently, we're not the only ones who love it; every year, come April, the billowing white tent that hosts the sugarhouse's annual Pancake Weekend, during which attendees pay a small fee to gorge themselves with pancakes, sausage, and plenty of syrup, is packed to the seams.

While the Pancake Weekend is one of the more prominent maple-related activities in the North Country, it's far from the only one. In fact, the area is rife with sugarhouses; there is at least one maple producer in almost every town, and many sugarhouses sponsor demonstrations or tours and are open to the public year round. For residents interested in even more involvement in the maple community, there is the Northeastern New York Maple Producers' Association, which sponsors a wide variety of maple-related events in the North Country.

For more information on the history and science of maple syrup production, the online version of the North American Maple Producers' Manual is a valuable resource for hobbyists, established producers, and anyone interested in learning more about maple syrup.

What's your favorite thing to do with syrup?

Maple syrup, maple sugar, or maple cream? Light Amber, Medium Amber, or Dark Amber? NY or VT? With so many maple products available in the North Country, it can be difficult to differentiate one from the other. Maple syrup, the beloved breakfast condiment and most familiar maple product, is the condensed sugar of sugar maple sap, that remains after the water in the sap has been boiled off. Maple syrup is classified according to variations in color and flavor that are caused by varying boiling times and benign microorganisms found in the syrup. Grade A Light Amber maple syrup (called Grade A Fancy in Vermont) is the lightest of the three classifications and has a mild, delicate flavor. Grade A Medium Amber is a bit darker than Grade A Light, and has a fuller flavor; while Grade A Dark Amber has a rich brown color and intense maple flavor. Differences in taste between the three classifications are significant enough to merit a sampling of each in order to determine your personal preference. Maple sugar is made by heating and stirring maple syrup until the sugar in the syrup has stiffened and crystallized; maple sugar is comparable to cane sugar in crystal size and texture, but retains the distinctive flavor of maple syrup. Maple sugar can be substituted for cane sugar in nearly every instance of use. Maple cream (also known as maple spread or maple butter) is made by elevating the boiling point of maple syrup to a prescribed level, rapidly cooling the syrup, and then stirring it until it has the consistency of peanut butter. Maple cream is delicious spread on muffins or toast. Other maple products available in the North Country include maple candy (a soft, nougat-type candy), maple rock candy, maple snow cones, and maple cotton candy. Many people attest that there are distinct geographical differences in the taste of maple syrup. However, comprehensive government guidelines for maple syrup production, ensure consistency in all commercial maple products; no region's syrup is "better" than the other.