• Background and History of Maple Sugaring
• Science (and Art) of Maple Sugaring
• Regional Sugarbushes - Places to See and Taste Maple Sugaring Products
• Recipes with Maple Syrup
• Unusual Products for Purchase
• News, Events & Activities

March begins. Spring fever warms the air and also brings another kind of March madness. Before sugar maple buds open, the tree needs nutrients found in sap. Below-freezing nights and sunny, warm (40 degrees F) days provide optimal conditions for sap to start moving up the tree, possibly draining into a bucket or through a network of tubes to a sugarhouse, where it is evaporated over roaring fires and transformed into a regional delicacy sought round the world--Maple Sugar.

Begin your maple excursion with the annual Maple Weekend in New York, sponsored by the New York State Maple Producers Association (a consortium of 550+ maple producers throughout the state) in an area nearby. Maple sugar producers host special open houses to demonstrate the art of making maple syrup. This site provides nice starting points for learning more about the production of maple syrup: its history, the collecting, the processing, and a list of FAQs about maple sugaring and syrup production. Another great site to visit is from the University of Vermont. It offers a comprehensive collection of resources on the entire maple syrup industry and includes history, science, agriculture, and economic materials.

Sugar maple (Acer saccharum) is the most common maple species in New York. Maples provide the brilliant red autumn leaves, and in spring further stimulate our senses with maple syrup derived from their sap. This leaves little wonder why the sugar maple is New York's official state tree and appears in the center of the Canadian flag.

What's News...

• From the Boston Globe, (Feb. 26, 2011) the "Weather Could Produce Banner Maple Sugar Season."
• New on the page this year! Maple-inspired music: View fiddler Ward Allen playing Maple Sugar, and then listen to the Maple Sugar Polka.
• Maple Sugaring Tour Planned for UB Students. The University at Buffalo International Student and Scholar Services schedules trips throughout the year. The maple sugaring adventure is on March 26, 2010; 8:15 am to 2:30 pm. The trip is to a local sugarbush, to watch maple syrup being made, followed by pancakes with fresh syrup.
• Sap, Syrup & Sugar. Saturdays & Sundays, March 12-13, 19-20 & 26-27. Genesee Country Village & Museum. Sugaring program 9:30 a.m.-4 p.m. / Breakfast 9 a.m.- 1 p.m. "Celebrate this special time at the museum in March with a Pancake Breakfast, self-guided walks to the sugar bush, 19th-century and modern syrup-making demos and tastings. The entire museum will be alive with activities—including hands-on crafts, games, food tastings, dancing, open-hearth cooking in our historic village, a maple cooking contest, a maple sugar history trail and even brewing up some maple beer. Maple-sugaring activities including log hewing, spile carving, tree tapping, sap collection and boiling down the sap to syrup and sugar. Visit the cooper and tinsmith as they make buckets for collecting sap.

Enjoy the Pancake and Sausage Breakfast 9 a.m.-1 p.m. ($8 for adults, $6 for youth and free for ages 3 and under) with real maple syrup! Then plan to take home a bit of the maple season with a visit to our museum shops. Admission to Sap, Syrup & Sugar is adults $8/ $6 members; youth $6/$4 members. Children 3 and younger are admitted free.

Obtaining the raw material for maple syrup results of physiological processes that turn each tree into an osmotic pump. Steve Vogel ("Nature's Pumps" American Scientist 82, September-October 1994) describes the movement of ions across cell membranes allowing a concentration gradient to be maintained where, "a mere one-molar concentration difference generates over one million pascals, so an osmotic pump can easily work against quite a high resistance."

As the daytime temperature begins to rise, starch accumulated during the previous summer and stored over the winter in the tree's zylem parenchyma is hydrolyzed by special "contact cells." Hydrolyzed starch products include the sugar, sucrose, which can reach concentrations of 3-5%. The osmotic pump is "primed" with the high concentration of sugars dissolved in the maple tree's large plumbing network of phloem. Water drawn into the trees by its root system provides the sugary sap that can travel at the rate of 1m/hr. The maple tree is "tapped" to capture the flow and provide the sap for maple syrup.

The sap obtained from the maple tree is a clear, colorless, sterile liquid providing the water and nutrients for the tree's buds. The North American Maple Syrup Producers Manual "Appendix 2: Chemistry and Quality" provides a chemical analysis of sap: 98+% sucrose, < 2.0% glucose, phenolic compounds, amines, peptides, amino acids, proteins, and organic acids. It takes about 40 gallons of sap to produce one gallon of maple syrup, which weighs about 11 pounds and has a 66.5% sugar content.

Maple sugaring (producing syrup from sap) was shown to the first European settlers to the Americas by native Indian tribes and involves a variety of scientific and technical concepts: levers (splitting firewood), heat transfer, viscosity, boiling point, and depression of freezing points are among the concepts of physics involved in transforming the watery sap to a thick, rich, amber syrup. Larry R. Yoder's The Physics of Maple Syrup Making is a good starting point for learning the science behind the process.

For events and activities in the Western New York/Southern Ontario region go directly to:

• Maple Weekend in New York March 19-20 and March 26-27, 2011.
• Ontario Maple Sugar Producers Association
• or view links to other Regional Sugarbushes.

Regional Sugarbushes -- Places to See and Taste Maple Sugaring

• New York State Maple Producers Association provides map listings for participating maple syrup producers (search by zip code). Results show a map of your area with locations and names for each producer. 
• Ohio Maple Producers Association.
• Vermont Maple Sugar Makers' Association.
• Proctor Maple Research Center. Virtual tour of maple research at the Underhill Center, University of Vermont.
• RoundTheBend Online Travel Guide. Tourist treasure chest for New York State travel. Sites for Maple sugaring include:
  • Chautauqua/Allegheny Region
  • Greater Niagara Region
  • Finger Lakes Region
  • Other NY Regions.
• RocWiki (Rochester, NY). Links to maple sugaring in counties around Rochester.

Maple Sugaring Science

Standards and Reference Tools

• United States Standards for Grades of Maple Sirup (U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, 1980). They may spell "syrup" funny, but this is the guide to quality in maple syrup. See also: Maple Grading in New York, the State's grading technique.
• North American Maple Syrup Producers Manual. EVERYTHING you need to know about growing maples trees for commercial or private production of maple sugar. Produced by the Ohio State University Extension Service, in cooperation with the North American Maple Syrup Council.
• Maple Syrup Quality Control Manual. (University of Maine Cooperative Extension (Bulletin 7038)). Document to help improve production of the maple sugar products.
• Maple Syrup Grades (Maple Source.com). Simple list of grades.

Science (including production)

• Chemical Composition of Maple Syrup" David W. Ball Journal of Chemical Education, vol. 84, Issue 10, p.1647-1650.
• Molecular Models of Compounds in Maple Syrup, William F. Coleman Journal of Chemical Education, vol. 84, Issue 10, p.1650.
• Identifying Maple Trees for Syrup Production (Univ. of Minnesota). Guide to identify the maple trees best suited for syrup production.
• Maple Publications (Cornell Sugar Maple Research & Extension Program). Articles on the science and production of maple sugar. Includes:
  • Maple Sugar Production for the Beginner (Anni L. Davenport, School of Forest Resources, Pennsylvania State & Lewis J. Staats, Department of Natural Resources, Cornell Cooperative Extension).
  • Maple Confections Notebook. What you can create with maple sugar.
  • Mother Nature's Irrigators: Plants Share Water with Their Neighbors. Paper adapted from Betty S. Wong (Cornell University, 1994).
• Maple Sugaring Spring Phenology (Journey North). Participate in the Maple Sugaring Study (January to June). Print the chart and record the date each event occurs. Be sure to check and contribute to other Signs of Spring on the home page: Track Spring's Journey North!
• Hobby Maple Syrup Production (Ohio State University Extension).
• Tap My Trees. Make it yourself! Making maple syrup at home: a starter kit.
• How to Tap Maple Trees and Make Maple Syrup.
• Massachusetts Maple Producers Association. Resources on every aspect of maple sugar and syrup production, including how products are made, where to locate local producers, science, events, recipes, and other materials. Also featured is a "do-it-yourself" article so you can try maple syrup production at home see: Make Your Own Syrup.
• Vermont Maple Syrup.
• Proctor Maple Research Center (Univ. of Vermont).
• Hobby Maple Syrup Production. (Ohio State University Factsheet F-36-02). Good document for beginning or veteran small-scale maple sugar producers (pdf version).
• The Physics of Maple Sugar Making. 1999 paper by Larry R. Yoder and part of the Meery Lea Maple Sugaring Project's Classroom in the Sugarbush, an educational resource for teachers and activities for elementary aged school children) at the Merry Lea Environmental Learning Center at Goshen College (Indiana).
• International Maple Syrup Institute. Who would guess, but it's no surprise there is an international organization.

Background and History of Maple Sugaring

• Sugar Maple (Acer saccharum) Identification sheet.
• Acer saccharum: Sugar Maple is a U.S. Forest Service fact sheet on the life history of the sugar maple tree. Fact Sheet 51, 1993 (University of Florida, Environmental Horticulture).
• Acer saccharum Fact Sheet. Photo identification and description.
• Introduction to the History of Maple Syrup Production & the Maple Production Narrative from Cornell University's Sugar Maple Research and Extension program, linking to publications, other websites, and educational resources and activities. Also see: Life of a Sugar Maple Tree.
• Maple Syrup (University of Vermont). Comprehensive subject guide on all aspects of maple syrup making. Includes: history, collection and production, marketing, nutrition and recipes, sugar maple cultivation, environmental issues and pests and diseases.
• Maple History
  Resources from the Massachusetts Maple Growers Association. General information, regional tours and educational resources are included.
• Maple Sugar Glossary. All the terms you will need to speak "maple sugar" (e.g., doodlebug).
• Maple Facts (Ohio Maple Producers Association). Measurements and data on sap production to syrup and sugar.
• Maple Syrup Industry in Ontario (Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food & Rural Affairs). Not only covers Ontario maple sugar production, also has educational and scientific pages, as well as links to related sites. Useful for learning how to produce your own maple sugar. This site provides an in-depth compilation of resources about maple sugaring, including many links to other maple sugaring and syrup Internet resources.
• More Than Maple Syrup (Educated Chemist (Royal Society of Chemistry)). On Canadian maple products (history, economics, science)
• Michigan Maple Syrup Association. Resources for the commercial sugarbush manager and the hobbyist. Site includes links to educational resources and technical publications. Also includes: Algonquian Indian Legend on discovering maple syrup.
• Maple Sugaring links (New York State Maple Producers Association). Covers all aspects.

Recipes with Maple Syrup

There are so many things to do with maple syrup! Here are a few sites telling you what can be done with them! Though you know that it is good for you, read the official document: Maple Sugar's Nutritional Value (USDA Nutrient Database for Standard Reference, Release 13). Read also the Nutritional Value of Maple Syrup. Brief description of the benefits of eating this wonderful food.

• Maple Recipes from New York (NYS Maple Producers Association).
  
• Maple Sugar & Syrup Recipes (Epicurious). More ways to enjoy.
• Maple Recipes (Food Network). Recipes, videos, and other resources directly on using maple products.
  • Iron Chef Maple Cookoff. Watch the video. Cat Cora battles Brad Farmerie. Originally viewed in November 2009, this episode shows and incredible number of maple-added dishes.
• Maple Confections Notebook. What you can create with maple sugar.
• Maple Recipes (Mass. Maple Producers).
• Michigan Maple Recipes
  
• Recipes (Massachusetts Maple Producers Association). Collection of New England recipes -- they are all desserts!
• Maple Pecan Ice Cream. Make it from scratch (from Yvonne)
• Maple Recipes (Vermont Maple Sugar Makers' Association & Vermont Maple Foundation). Still more recipes from one of the recognized maple states.
• Maple Syrup Recipes (About.com). Many recipes from a variety of sources.
• More Than Maple! Article about the village of Marathon and its annual maple festival.
  

Products

The products listed here are not endorsed by the authors. We add them to show a variety of unusual items that you may find interesting. Most of the state associations listed above have links to where to buy. See also the recipe section for additional sources.

Maple Liqueur

• Sapling Liqueur
• Flaghill
• Bee Vodka (scroll down product list for NY items)

Fred Stoss and David J. Bertuca. Comments Always Welcome

Last Modified: 18 March 2011
URL: http://www.DavidBertuca.net/features/maple.html

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