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As March fills with maple syrup festivals, we come to learn how maple trees aren’t at all like factories or franchises.
No. The sap they produce and its sugar content — all necessary to boil it down to pure maple syrup — can vary between seasons and even between trees, depending on soil, sun, temperatures and whether a tree is perched on top of or below a hill.
Science and syrup are blended into events like Sugar Camp Days on March 8-9 at Bendix Woods County Park in New Carlisle and at later fests.
I’ve rounded up some golden droplets of wisdom that I’ve gleaned from local naturalists and sugar bush farmers in the decade that I’ve written a column each year about maple science, plus some updates.
Enjoy.
The sap just started to run.
After the trees at Bendix Woods were tapped on Feb. 8, the sap didn’t start flowing until last week’s big thaw began, St. Joseph County Parks naturalist Amal Farrough says.
The park tapped about the same number of trees with its network of blue tubes. But it hasn’t set out as many buckets because of cold weather, which caused some youth field trips to be canceled, Farrough says. After all, those buckets are set out with the kids’ help.
Remember: The focus of Bendix Woods’ maple programs is on education, not syrup production or profits.
This winter’s hearty cold and snow was good for sap.
Maple trees are resilient. They put up with a wide range of wacky winters as they head into the maple sugar season.
But this winter’s sustained, freezing cold was actually good for the maple trees because they — like other native plants, insects and critters — are adapted to the cold, Farrough says. In fact, many forms of life rely on deep cold to regenerate themselves in the spring, just as human cardio and mental health relies on a good night’s sleep.
“In general, the ecosystem thrives better when there’s a cold season,” she says.
Last year, when the month of February brought us an early and odd stretch of warmth, she says, some of the maple trees released their sweetest sap far early in the season. And some taps sealed earlier than usual.
Maple syrup is better than cane sugar.
Pure maple syrup offers trace amounts of nutrients that cane sugar doesn’t. It boasts a lower glycemic index than regular sugar, though guidance on diabetes still warns that it’s sugar that needs to be properly balanced.
Better yet, growing maples doesn’t involve the excess of chemicals that cane sugar farming does. Rather, a maple tree sustains native life. Several animals rely on its bark, twigs, buds, flowers and seeds for food.
There’s no sap without upsy downsy temperatures.
Trees need freeze-thaw cycles to create the hydraulics that pump out their sap. Gases inside of the tree expand and contract with the temperatures, causing the sap to run up and down the tree.
As the sap descends, it seeps out through cracks in its bark and through the taps that sugar farmers set in the tree.
Sugar making stops when buds swell up.
Maple trees make it really clear when they’re done for the sugar season. Their buds begin to swell. That signals that the tree is starting to use its sap to feed its buds and, as a result, the sap turns bitter. The buds usually swell in mid to late March.
You can make syrup from almost any tree’s sap.
Sap is found in all trees. You can tap any of them. But you wouldn’t want to eat all of their sugar.
You can tap and make syrup from the boxelder, known as ash-leaf maple, which is a species of maple trees. Sycamores, butternut and birch trees also produce sap that can be turned into edible sugar, as Native Americans had done.
Norway maples are an invasive and problematic species that can be found lining Riverside Drive and the St. Joe River in South Bend. You can tap them, too, but you’d have to boil up to 50% more sap to yield syrup. Besides, they finish the sugar season early because their buds open earlier.
In the end, sugar and black maples reign over all other trees for making the best and most syrup.
Each tree species yields a different kind of sap and syrup. Read my 2022 column about what you’d need to know, including links to helpful resources.
But forget about syrup from these.
Sap from pine trees is used to make turpentine. And sap from cherry trees produces a bitter syrup, owing to trace amounts of cyanide, but you’d have to consume huge quantities of it to get sick.
Yuck. Now, here’s where you can get the really good stuff.
Maple madness
∎ Sugar Camp Days at Bendix Woods County Park: On Timothy Road south of Indiana 2 and eight miles west of the U.S. 31 bypass, New Carlisle. 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. March 8-9. Lions Club pancake and sausage breakfast from 8 a.m. to noon both days; $9 per person, $5 for ages 6-12, free for ages 5 and younger. Admission is $8 per vehicle. There will be demonstrations of modern and traditional ways of making syrup, walking tours of the sugar bush (starting between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m.), cooking demonstrations with maple syrup (10 a.m. to noon), horse-drawn wagon rides, blacksmith demonstrations, ice carvings, historical crafters, live family friendly music by Jenny Laffoon in the nature center (noon to 2 p.m.) and sales of foods made with maple syrup, including kettle corn, cotton candy, hot dogs and baked goods. (sjcparks.org, 574-654-3155)
∎ Indiana Maple Syrup Weekend: A couple of maple producers in our area and others across Indiana open their farms and woods for free tours, pancakes, syrup and other activities on March 8-9. J&A Farms, at 237 1st Road, Nappanee, and Zimmerman Sugar Bush, at 5833 E. 18th Road, Argos, both open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. March 8. For other participating farms and their hours, visit indianamapleweekend.com.
∎ Maple Wood Nature Center: 4550 E. County Road 100 South, LaGrange, Ind. 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. March 15-16. Lions Club pancake breakfast from 7 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.; cost is $10 per person and $5 for ages 4-10. Free tours of sugar shack, horse-drawn wagon rides and puppet shows all day. Free admission. (lagrangecountyparks.org, 260-854-2225)
∎ Maple Row Sugarhouse: 12646 Born St., Jones. 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturdays and 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sundays March 15-16 and March 22-23. With sugar house tours, pancake and sausage breakfast, maple breakfast and lunch, petting farm, living history re-enactment, French colonial sugar camp, Civil War camp (March 22-23), live music (11 a.m. on March 15, 16 and 22) and kids activities. There also will be contests, demonstrations and wagon rides. Free admission. (michiganmaplefestival.com, 269-205-8255)
Other adventures
∎ Wilderness first responder course: The Dunes Learning Center in Chesterton will host a Wilderness First Responder certification course from March 31 to April 4, designed for those who must be able to handle emergencies in remote locations. This includes professional guides, trip leaders, search and rescue team members, and outdoor enthusiasts. The hands-on course costs $999 for the program and meals or $1,199 if you add overnight lodging. Learn more at www.duneslearningcenter.org/wfr.
∎ Becoming an Outdoors-Woman: Women ages 18 and older can now register for this annual event, led by an Indiana nonprofit by the same name, where they’ll learn skills in a relaxed, low-pressure environment. This year, it will be May 2-4 at Ross Camp in West Lafayette, Ind. Choose two out of more than two dozen offerings, including fishing, archery, geocaching, wildlife tracking, shooting muzzleloader firearms and outdoor cooking. Learn more at www.indianabow.com.
Find columnist Joseph Dits on Facebook at SBTOutdoorAdventures or 574-235-6158 or jdits@sbtinfo.com.
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