Local Maple Syrup is Making Spring Sweeter in the Hudson Valley

Brianna Valentin

As Spring approaches, maple season begins. The Hudson Highlands Nature Museum offers maple sugar tours every weekend from March 3 until March 18.

Vermont is the number one supplier of maple syrup in the United States. New York, from its vast supply of apple trees, is the second state that produces the most maple syrup.

Andrea Nieves, a maple sugar tour guide, says the transition into spring is the best time to tap trees. The days and nights above freezing are when farmers can see the most sap in their buckets.

The trees planted on the Hudson Highlands Maple Tree Trail are 50 to 60 years old. “The Sugar Maple is the best tree to make maple syrup with,” Nieves says, “Its sap contains 2% sugar and 98% water making the sap less work to boil down.”

The Lenape Native Americans were the first to discover maple tree sap in the northeast. Hunters and gatherers slashed the trees in two big lines forming a “V-shape” causing the sap to naturally fall downward into a bucket. A farmer can fill up to four buckets per tree.

Spiles were a device later used to get sap flowing out of the trees. It is inserted about an inch deep to penetrate an inner layer of the tree. Sugar farmers have used wood, iron, lead, and aluminum spile. They found aluminum to be the most effective material.

Wooden spile Aluminum spile

The modern method involves using a plastic tube tapped into the tree that is attracted to a jug at the bottom of the tree. Nieves says that this is the best way to protect the sap from any outside elements, especially water and snow.

Using the tubes farmers can tap multiple trees and have the sap flowing downhill right into the sugar shack where the sap is filtered and boiled. Blue tubes are recommended because it is the color that freezes the slowest besides black.

Modern method

It takes about 40 buckets of sap to make one gallon of syrup, and about 10 to 12 hours to boil down the sap. Nieves says, “The labor that goes into making one tiny bottle of syrup is the reason why farmers sell maple syrup for so much money. It’s expensive…but makes the syrup taste that much better knowing that the time someone put into making it.”

Sugar farmers would spend about 24 hours a day tending to the fire that boils the sap. The sap needs to be watched constantly so it doesn’t burn. Once the sap is 66% sugar and caramelized it is ready to be bottled. A hydrometer is used to indicate when the sap has turned into syrup.

Sugar shack where sap is boiled

With the computer technology maple sugar farmers have developed, they no longer need to stand outside to collect sap or watch the sap boil. The tube method along with boiling machines can complete the process without human labor.

There are different variations of syrup that result from how long the sap is boiled. Golden delicate syrup is the sweetest syrup but has a mild maple flavor, dark robust and amber rich is what is usually paired with pancakes, and dark strong has the most maple flavor.

While maple flavors are most prominent in the fall, it’s the springtime that makes syrup that much sweeter.