You Deserve a Sweet Treat: Maple Sugaring is back!
Breaking News: six more weeks of winter! Sorry, we don’t make the rules; Punxsutawney Phil does.
For those of us who can’t bear the thought of opening their front door to the icy crunch of winter, for even one more day, hold tight. There’s a sweetness that we can tap into in just a few weeks that’s worth the wait. In the meantime, get your spile and bucket, it’s almost maple sugaring time.
Every year, when the days begin to reach 40 degrees and the nights cool to 20, the sap encased within the Maple tree begins to warm just enough to flow and release once tapped. With nature’s sweetness so thoughtfully protected under the bark of the Maple, you might ask how the first person knew to hammer into its hard outer shell?
One theory is that early indigenous Americans discovered sap dripping from the maple’s branches, which, due to the cool temperatures were frozen into icicles. “Sapsicles,” if you will.
According to the University of Vermont, there are written accounts of maple sugaring in North America dating back to 1557, but its origins predate these accounts.
In 1755, a young European colonist published his story, An Account of the Remarkable Occurrences in the Life and Travels of Col. James Smith, in which he recalled Native Americans sharing their maple sugaring process with him. Once they secured the sweet sap from the Maple tree, “They said I might try the experiment, and boil some of it, and see what I would get. I never did try it; but I observed that after several times freezing, the water that remained in the vessel, changed its colour and became brown and very sweet.”
Though an arduous process, which requires boiling down the water content of the sap for a small yield, at the time, the maple sugar was an alternative to the West Indian cane sugar with a long shelf life.
Want to learn more about the rich history of maple sugaring and even try your hand? You can make your very own maple sugar, right here in Philadelphia with the help of our friends at Pennypack Park!
Join Pennypack Environmental Center at Fox Chase Farm for their annual Maple Sugar Day on March 7, from 12 – 4 PM. This is Pennypack’s 41st year maple sugaring!
Learn about the process of maple sugaring, watch maple candy-making, and sample pancakes with pure maple syrup. There will also be farm animals, crafts, games, tapping tours, story time, woodworking, local organizations, and more! Rain, snow, or shine.
NO Registration Required. Stop by to join the fun. Get this event on your calendar.
$5 CASH PER PERSON 2 YEARS+
Most activities are free.
Syrup & Gift Sales are cash only.
Fair use image: “Maple Leaf Structure” by jurvetson