Winter's Sweet Goodbye

Cold, freezing nights followed by warmer days indicates that it’s the perfect time to start the maple-sugaring season. This sweet treat is immensely popular and hobbyists around Greene, like Bernie Kurincak and Kevin Pagac have found the process to be an interesting pastime.

Bernie Kurincak of Carmichaels has been collecting sap and creating maple syrup for around 20 years. “I love the outdoors and it’s a hobby that gets me out of the house during a time when there’s not much else to do.” His interest in the hobby was sparked when he purchased his current property; the property has many sugar maples and he’s heard that there may have even been a sugar shack on the property in its past. The stories of natives harvesting sap had also inspired him. His wife Donna and his son Joey also take part in maple-sugaring.

Kevin Pagac of Pine Bank fell into the hobby by accident two seasons ago. He has a hobby sawmill and while harvesting a hickory tree from his property, it ended up breaking some branches on a maple tree. “I realized the maple tree was raining on me, so I ran and got a piece of PVC pipe and a bucket and quickly tapped it. The sap came out like a faucet. I was hooked!”

Sap was harvested long before European settlers arrived on North America. It is believed that natives collected the sap and created a sweet liquid although there are few written records. The Chippewas and Ottawas of Michigan both share the legend of NenawBozhoo, who cast a spell on the sugar maple that turned the pure syrup into sap. He did so because his people were indulging in the sap frequently and he didn’t want them to become slothful. After that, the sap would require work to become syrup. There are a variety of methods accredited to natives for the process; using bark vessels with the sap left out to freeze, boiling the sap with hot stones and natives using clay pots to boil the sap.

Maple-sugaring season typically starts in the middle of February and lasts until the early development of buds on the trees. This is about four to eight weeks, depending on the weather. Warm sunny days around 40° and cold nights around 20° are best for sap flow. But why does it work that way?

While it’s warm, pressure develops in the tree; this positive pressure causes the sap to flow through the tap hole. During the cooler nights, suction develops and draws water into the tree through the roots. The sap is replenished with the water and the process starts over. If temperatures remain too low or too warm during the season, the sap flow is reduced and this results in a lower amount of maple syrup produced.

Pennsylvania is in the top ten producers of syrup, thanks to the state’s abundance of sugar maple (Acer saccharum) and red maple (Acer rubrum) trees. Silver maples (Acer saccharinum) and black maples (Acer nigrum), also found in Pennsylvania, can also be used in the harvesting of sap. But it’s the sugar maple that’s the best for maple-sugaring.

Compared to other trees, the sap in the sugar maple contains a high concentration of sugar. The sap is about 2% sugar on average; other hardwoods’ sap, like birch, have sugar contents that are about .5% - 1% sugar. To make the same amount of syrup from one of these trees instead of a maple would take two to four times the amount sap collected to make the same amount of syrup. The sugar maple also produces a higher volume of sap thanks to carbon dioxide instead of water in its sapwood. At night the carbon dioxide contracts; in the morning it expands and pushes the sap out the tap hole.

Don’t despair if you don’t have a lot of maple trees around. Birch, box elders, hickory and walnut trees can all be tapped to harvest syrup. It will just take a little – or a lot - more work!

Techniques differ on the details of tapping trees and collecting syrup, but the basic premise is the same – a hole is drilled into the tree and a tap is placed in the hole. “I use PVC pipe cut down and with one ended rounded to make it easier to hammer in,” shares Bernie. After placing the tap in the tree, Bernie secures a plastic or metal bucket with a lid over the tap.

Others, like Kevin, use tubing placed in the tree. “I bought tubing and cut it to size and placed it in the holes,” says Kevin. “This way I’m able to place my jugs for collection on the ground.” Others use longer tubes that they run from the trees to larger collectors.

Make sure if you decide to start harvesting your own sap that you avoid damaged or unhealthy trees. When drilling into the sapwood, look for shavings that are lightly colored; dark shavings are the sign of an unhealthy tree. The size of the tree will determine the number of taps; avoid tapping trees with a diameter of 10” or less.

When producers follow tapping guideline, and tap only healthy trees, no damage to the tree results. It has been estimated that tapping removes only 10% or less of the tree’s sugar, an amount too small to hurt a healthy tree under normal environmental conditions.

Once the trees are tapped and begin flowing, the collectors are checked frequently and changed. During high sap flow, the buckets may need to be checked and changed frequently. The sap should be collected and processed as quickly as possible to ensure a higher quality product and minimize bacterial growth. After the sap is collected, it needs to be filtered to remove debris.

It takes approximately 40 gallons of sap to make one gallon of syrup, so large amounts of sap must be gathered to make the syrup. Sap becomes syrup once it has reached 66-67% sugar content. To get the water to evaporate and reach this number, the sap is heated to 7.25° above boiling temp – in Greene County that’s just under 218°. Because of the large amounts of water evaporated, most boiling should be done outside the home. Some hobbyists use a sugar shack for this, but some like Bernie and Kevin use other methods.

Kevin currently uses a block fire pit that burns wood; grates cover the top of the pit. He uses 6-gallon steam pans placed on top to boil down his sap. “One thing to definitely do is to make sure you have the ability to cover your setup in case of rain,” Kevin suggests.

Bernie’s setup uses a two-burner camp stove with large, stainless steel pots to process his sap. He started with propane, but eventually converted the stove to natural gas. The area is also covered with a tent.

It’s important to watch the sap carefully – as it nears the end the temperature will rise quickly. Once it’s reached the right temperature, it’s important to remove it from heat, give it a final filter, and begin canning. If you would like to make maple candies, continue boiling until 32° above boiling – around 242° in Greene County. Because of the higher temperature required, making maple candies is a great way to use the sap that you may have left boiling too long, as Kevin found out. “I was using a laser point thermometer and the sap wasn’t reaching the right temp, so I kept boiling and checking the temp. It got to the point that I knew it had to be past the temp, so I stopped boiling it. I thought it was ruined, so I poured it into a container off to the side. As it dried, I realized it was getting lighter and drying and it turned into candy – a little crumbly, but still good!” He laughs.

The taste of maple syrup is based on multiple things. Syrup is graded by the USDA based on the percentage of light transmittance. Grades range from golden, which has a delicate taste, to amber (rich taste), dark (robust taste) and very dark (strong taste). “The sap collected in the beginning of the season is the lightest and the closer it gets to the end of the season, the darker it gets,” says Bernie. The light syrup is often said to have a buttery flavor and is the most expensive; the very darkest has more of a caramel flavor. The medium colored syrup has the most typical ‘maple’ flavor.

A last word of advice from Kevin – “Don’t be afraid to do it. If you can boil water and pay attention, you can do this.” He adds with another laugh, “But make sure you’re really paying attention – especially at the end!”

Published in GreeneScene Community Magazine, February 2020.