Maple Madness
PENN TWP — It takes about 40 gallons of sugar maple sap to make a gallon of maple syrup.
That's one of the things visitors to Succop Nature Park learned Saturday.
The annual Maple Madness tours walked visitors through a history of maple sugaring in the United States and demonstrated how the condiment is made.
Local students especially could benefit from the outdoor educational experience, said Chris Kubiak, Succop director of education. He said the combination of being outside on a sunny weekend and learning something fun offered a “nice respite.”
“It's important for us to run this,” Kubiak said. “There is a very, very strong family component.”That was the case for Troop 52821 of the Morning Star Girl Scouts out of Cranberry Township. The Daisy-Brownie group and a number of parents were part of a midmorning tour.Ava Orsino, a first-grader at Eden Christian Academy, said her favorite part of the event was learning about “sugar cakes” made by Native Americans.Mary Core, a station volunteer who participated in Maple Madness for the first time this year, explained Native Americans used sugar cakes boiled down from sap to trade with other tribes.“Everybody wanted some sugar, because it was new,” Core said.Though Native Americans first used earth-hewn tools — like sharpened rocks and sticks — for maple sugaring, their exposure to pioneers caused the process to evolve. Sharpened rocks were replaced by hatchets and hollowed out “bark boxes” were replaced by pots and kettles.Maple sugar was a major North American sweetener until the sugar cane industry overtook it in the late 1800s.Still, the process continued to change to become as efficient as possible. Plastic tool alternatives were introduced in the 1980s. Today, many major operations use tubing to collect sap from several trees at once.
This year's Maple Madness event came with changes, as is expected in a pandemic. Visitors were asked to mask and maintain social distances. For safety reasons, the traditional Maple Madness brunch wasn't held.“That is a big value-added aspect to it,” Kubiak said.But coordinators explored different opportunities instead, according to Kubiak. For instance, this year included personal maple syrup and candy samplers for those who completed the tours.“I think my favorite part would be (the) tasting,” said Charlotte Gift, a first-grader at Haine Elementary School.Several of Charlotte's fellow Scouts agreed with her.For Alivia Ebbert, a first-grader at St. Gregory Catholic School, the best part of Saturday boiled down to one thing.“Learning about sugar,” Alivia said.
