Oh! How Sweet it Is!

Ohio's abundance of Sugar Maple trees makes for a sweet "crop" of syrup come early Spring, Oh, how sweet it is!

Making maple syrup is labor intensive work; beginning with cutting down enough old trees and chopping wood to keep the fires in the syrup evaporators going. Next, trees are tapped, which means drilling holes for spigots to drain the sugar water that is rising in the trees and collecting it in buckets, pipes, or plastic bags. Long hours are spent boiling the sap down and bottling the syrup.

Sugar season is coming to an end because the trees are claiming the sap for their own use by leafing out. A leafing tree yields ucky syrup, so I imagine it is nature's way of preventing having the life drained right out of them, literally.

One of the things that I love best about March is going to Maple Syrup festivals and pancake breakfasts. We especially love the festivities at the Lutheran Memorial Camp in Fulton, Ohio. The pancake breakfast is a real fest; served family style and loaded with fruit, sausages, OJ or coffee, plenty of pancakes and, oh yeah....pure Ohio maple syrup!

There's always a live band filling the air with (mostly) old-timey music (with a few modern twists thrown in just for fun).



Outside horse drawn wagons take visitors into the woods to see the tapped trees and watch the sap being boiled down into syrup.

 

 

 

 

For a refreshing treat that helps warm up cold hands and chase away the chill air, hot, homemade Sassafras teas is made.

The end result is fresh syrup, ready for consumers to enjoy. For those who did not make it to a festival, no worries. Area farmers markets are getting set to open the first week of May, where one can purchase the fruits of the maple producers' labors. :)

 

 

Marcheta *Savoring the Sweet Things in Life

Festivity on Tap



Ohio maple  syrup festivals are in abundance this month and even into April. This weekend Jim and I went to several. Today's maple syrup celebration at the Lutheran Memorial Camp in Morrow County had by far the most festive atmosphere of any that I've ever attended.



Most festivals feature educational displays, wagon rides through the sugar bush, demonstrations of boiling down sap with maple syrup tasting, live entertainment, and maybe even costumed interpreters. The Lutheran Memorial Camp's festival had all that, plus the live entertainment was in the lodge's main dining room, where hot cakes with all the fixing were served. 



 

The Lutheran Memorial Camp's pancake meal included all-you-can-
eat sausage, chunky apple sauce, fresh fruit, orange juice, coffee, and tea.
And pure Ohio Maple Syrup, of course!

 Volunteer wait-staff kept the platters of food coming, and I am sure that the cooks were plenty tired by the end of the day.








Erica and Mary Ann Garn were part of a group that included Rosemary Shirk,

Doug Shirk, and Paul Garn, who were seated with us at

Lutheran Memorial Camp's maple ssyrup festival.


The two of us were led to a table for eight. Soon five others were seated with us. I thought that this was great, as we got to meet and know other people. Toes kept tapping to the band's steel guitar, mandolins, banjos and other instruments while several singers gifted us with their songs. People at this pancake meal were happy! I am sure that this gaiety was partly brought about by the warm Spring-like temperatures. It felt soooo good to be able to be outside without wearing three layers of clothes!

The Ohio Maple Producers Association's website gives information for the Maple Madness auto tour. If you haven't attended a syrup festival, I highly recommend them. Be prepared to have a lip-smakin' good time and sample sweet treats fresh from the sugar orchard!

Marcheta *lips a-smakin'