Brian Hagberg
CLARENDON, Pa. – Anyone driving past or walking through northwest Pennsylvania forests during late February and early March is likely to see a number of buckets hanging on some of the trees.
The buckets are a tell-tale sign that maple syrup season has begun. On Saturday, visitors to Chapman State Park learned how to make their own maple syrup.
Rick Rupprecht of Uncle Rick’s Sugar House guided participants through the process from finding the right kind of tree to collecting sap to boiling and finally consuming the end product.
After explaining how to find hard or sugar maple trees-the kind that make for the sweetest syrup-in a forest with maple, oak, ash, and dogwood, Rupprecht demonstrated the process of gathering sap.
“So now we can start having some real fun and start talking about how you make maple syrup,” Rupprecht said. “The process is extremely simple.”
A handful of trees along the trail had already been tapped and Rupprecht explained how the tree sap is collected using a spile and a bucket. The collected sap is then boiled down to the sugar in order to get maple syrup.
“This can take several hours,” Rupprecht said.
Finally, Rupprecht gave a visual demonstration of how much, or how little, syrup one can get from a gallon of sap.
“It boils at a rate of about 40 to one,” Rupprecht said.
All told, that means for every gallon of sap, someone going through the process of boiling it down would get about 1/4 cup of syrup.
The excursion, which included a walk along the Adams Run Trail which is currently featured as a park “Story Walk”, is one of several the park will host through the remainder of the spring and summer.
“We’ll be having an eagle watch on April 9,” said Chapman Environmental Education Specialist Jen Moore.
For more information about upcoming events visit the park’s website or Facebook page, or call 814-723-0250.
