Tapping into sweetness
BRADY TWP — Nearly 30 people attended a maple sugaring seminar Saturday morning at Jennings Environmental Education Center, 2951 Prospect Road.
The program, put on annually by the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, aims to send participants out the door with the educational background and field experience needed to take up tapping maple trees in their own backyards.
DCNR officers Miranda Crotsley and Stephanie Taylor walked the group through the methods of identifying a suitable maple tree, then set out on a trail to let visitors drill taps for themselves. Before the group picked up drills and buckets, the pair gave a detailed crash course on the fundamentals of sugaring.
“Maples are one of the hardest of the hardwoods,” Crotsley said, holding up a hand-powered auger.
The crowd ranged from curious newcomers to seasoned hobbyists.
Jeff Lemley said he had been trying to get a spot in a similar workshop at Raccoon Creek State Park for some time and felt lucky to have secured a place at Jennings this year.
“This was neat,” Lemley said. “We're feeling like we really did something, and we just picked a maple tree, drilled a little hole in it and tapped a little spile into it.”
Before hitting the woods, everyone participating used rulers and string to fashion simple measuring devices. The DCNR experts recommended tapping a maple tree that was no less than 10 inches in diameter.
Brad Isanogle, of West Sunbury, was pleased to have the new tool, despite its simplicity.
“Everywhere I go on the farm I drive a side-by-side,” Isanogle said. “This will be hanging off my rearview mirror.”
The trees tapped Saturday were all red maples. Sugar maples are the more desired of the maple trees because they possess the highest sugar content. Reds are generally the next-best option in this part of the country, followed by Norway and silver maples.The seminar included a lesson on identifying maple trees during the winter when they're without their easily spotted leaves.This can be particularly difficult, as their branches are the next-best tool, and suitably large maple trees tend to possess very high up branches.“Taking a pair of binoculars isn't a bad idea,” Crotsley said.Taylor said they don't recommend putting more than three taps in a tree at a time, no matter the size.The same tree can be tapped again and again year after year without harming it, though the tap ought to be spaced out from the scars of prior years' taps. The tree's sap will stop flowing at old tap points.In the end, harvested sap is boiled down significantly to remove its high water content, leaving sweet syrup behind.
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