It’s The Sweetest Time of Year
It’s the Sweetest Time of Year
New York State Maple Weekend Heads Our Way for It’s 28th Year
Top Photo / New Beginning Farmstead
Poured over pancakes, stirred into chili, or molded into candy, there’s no wrong way to enjoy maple sugar, and the next two weekends present the perfect opportunity to stock up! Now in its 28th year, the annual New York State Maple Weekend takes place over two weekends on March 16th and 17th and 23rd and 24th. There are several participating maple producers located throughout Cattaraugus County who will be hosting open houses for the public to learn how maple syrup is made, and the best part is that admission is free!
From 10:00am-4:00pm on each day, local producers including Boberg’s Maple (2298 Edmunds Road, Delevan), Maple Glen Sugar House (2266 Gowanda/Zoar Road, Gowanda), Moore’s Sugar Shack & Pancake House (10437 Galen Hill Road, Freedom), Sprague’s Maple Farms & Restaurant (1048 Route 305, Portville), Sticky Paws (12504 Dredge Road, South Dayton), Ulinger’s Maple Farm (8835 Crumb Hill Road, East Otto), and Wright Farms (9053 Laidlaw Road, Franklinville) will open their doors and have plenty of maple goodies available. New York has the largest resource of tappable maple trees in the United States, and there are more than 2,000 maple sugar makers statewide. For many maple farms, sugar making is a family business that’s been – and continues to be – passed down from generation to generation.
So how exactly is maple syrup made? Sap is collected into a bucket or a tubing collection system that empties into a central collection tank. Removing the water through evaporation is an important part of the process, as sap is composed of 98% water and 2% sugar. In fact, it takes approximately 40 gallons of sap to make just one gallon of maple syrup!
Joseph Boberg of Boberg’s Maple noted that the weather plays an important role in syrup making, and timing is everything. This year, however, the timing has been different than in years past. “It’s been an early season,” said Boberg. “Many years ago when I was young, my dad always tapped the first week of March, and ten years ago, we started tapping around Presidents’ Day. This year I tapped the last two days in January. The season is changing.”
Robert Wright of Wright Farms noted the late winter freeze-thaw cycle is key to getting the sap to run. “We want that swing in temperature,” said Wright. “We want the warm days, but we want freezing nights. The kind of weather that people hate? That’s what we want!”
Since 1840, Wright Farms Inc. has been in business, and five generations have learned and passed down the art of syrup making. “My son and my two nieces and my brother are all involved,” said Robert Wright. “My brother and his girls are involved in the dairy farm, and my youngest is interested in the maple.” Participating in the NYS Maple Weekends has been a family tradition for the Wrights since the late 90s. In addition to tours of the maple operation, Wright Farms will have a variety of maple products, including syrup, maple cream, maple-coated nuts, maple suckers, a maple dry rub, and molded maple sugar leaves. The maple-coated cashews are Wright’s favorite treat!
Maple cream is a sought-after product at Boberg’s Maple and a recipe he continues to make the old-fashioned way. “I boil it until it gets to the right temperature - 22 degrees over syrup - and then cool it and then whip it up by hand and pour it. People really like it for spread on toast and bagels.”
For those curious about the maple candy-making process, Maple Glen Sugar House will be hosting candy-making demonstrations throughout the maple weekends. Brothers Paul and Dana Lesefske invite visitors to enjoy wagon rides through the sugar bush and an Easter egg hunt for children during the last Sunday of the event on March 24th. Maple treats and maple chili will be available, as well as a variety of maple products.
For many of the participating maple producers, the NYS Maple Weekend event represents an important opportunity to share a centuries-old tradition and invite the public to see where their food comes from. “I’ve noticed that people like to come up to the farm to see how the syrup is made and to get to know the people where they’re getting their food from,” noted Robert Wright. “It used to be that everybody had a grandfather or an uncle who had a farm, and now we’re getting two or three generations removed from the farm, so people don’t really have that personal connection with agriculture anymore. I think Maple Weekend is a good way that people can come out and spend some time on the farm.
Those interested in visiting local maple producers should come prepared with appropriate footwear (“Maple season is also mud season,” noted Wright) and wear layers, as the weather can be unpredictable. For a complete listing and map of all NYS Maple Weekend participating farms, visit www.mapleweekend.com.