In the Sugar Bush

What most of us think of Maple Syrup is more than likely maple-flavored syrup instead.  Real syrup, Maple of one of 21 other tree types that are tap-able, comes direct from sap collected when it's running during the early days of spring.

McKenzie Wildlife Center near Poynette, Wisconsin celebrates syruping with a festival each year.  Volunteers explain how Native Americans and European settlers captured the sweet inside the tree.

Just as pioneers realized how much they liked this sweet flavor, they set about improving the process.  Using a series of iron kettles of different sizes allowed the boiling of the sap to continue as the heavier sap was moved to a smaller kettle.  Fresh sap was added to the largest kettle and the thickest sap ended in the smallest kettle where it could be plucked out when the right temperature - 7 degrees above boiling - 219 degrees.

It didn't take long for our fore-fathers and mothers to realize it could be quite cold away from the flames, so shacks were built for the boiling.  Past clients of mine who tapped their own trees and made their own syrup said its an around the clock process when the sap is running making it tiring work over a short period.

"Leaves should be smaller than a squirrel's ear," is what one of the syrup sayers told me when I asked how long the sap was good to turn into syrup.  Sap runs best with cold nights and warm days.  But not too warm. The most famous syrup is Maple because of the high natural sugar content in the sap.
 
You can tap trees other than Sugar Maple.  Many of the 22 trees suited for tapping are varieties other types of maple; you will find Birch, Walnut, and even Box Elder trees on the list.

Inside the "sugar shack" other volunteers demonstrated how they use a metal strainer to see if the sap is thick enough to put in the collection tank.  A small tube feeds a steady stream of sap from a tank in the next room as fast as the hot logs evaporates the water.

Depending on a variety of factors, it takes nearly 40 gallons of sap to create one gallon of Maple Syrup in Wisconsin.  Yes, that's right.  40 to 1.

While working up north, an insurance client gave me a quart of the real stuff one time.  I asked how much it was retail.  $64.  In the mid 90s.

It might make a person think twice before drowning their pancakes with the good stuff!  The prices vary each season, but you might want to try a small taste of syrup sold in a small bottle.

On hand at the McKenzie Wildlife Center Festival a steam powered tractor that used a pulley to turn containers creating fresh made vanilla ice cream.

            Which leads to another Maple memory...

The Speech Team at Lutheran High needed a fundraiser and one way many groups approached the challenge was by selling something students might enjoy during lunch.

That led to the creation of Wednesday Sundaes. We offered sundaes for $1.00.  Two scoops of vanilla with a selection of chocolate, strawberry, or maple syrup.


Some of the students didn't believe it.  Neither did some of the teachers.  "Isn't maple syrup for pancakes?" they would ask.

I assured them it was a taste combination they would like if they gave it a chance.

Some did.  Admittedly, we couldn't afford to pour real Maple Syrup on ice cream for a dollar and make money, but even Aunt Jemima's syrup is a tasty treat.  Those that tried it, liked it.

A cup full of fresh made ice cream with real maple syrup?  

There is no comparison.  It tastes like spring in Wisconsin.