maple memories
Silver cubes hang from dozens of trees as far as the eye can see. My brother and I shoveled the snow away from the barn and then headed down an icy driveway. A smell of butter guided us like a siren to a large cabin. The door opens with a strong push. In front of us is a stainless steel drum almost as high as the ceiling with pressure gauges and tubes, lots of tubes. One deep breath and we know we are in the right place; the sugar shack
How things have changed since the early 1970s. My younger brother and I returned to a sugar shack this year with my nephew and grandson, but it wasn’t quite what I remembered, except for that distinctive smell. However, the exhibits and photos brought back a lot of memories. On the walls were paintings, snowshoes, a spigot rack, and shelves of bottles of liquid gold.
One photo showed a man holding a hand drill hitting a tree. I vaguely remember taking a field trip one spring to a sugar bush where we had a tree tapping demonstration. He hand-drilled a small hole in a maple tree, then inserted a small fitting, called a Spile, and then tapped into place. Our guide then hung up the sap bucket to collect the sap. Once enough sap has been collected, we bring a bucket (from a pre-drilled tree) to be processed, where the sap is boiled. I was amazed to learn that it takes approximately 40 gallons of natural sap to produce one gallon of syrup. There were three large metal pots set on a wood fire. Our guide added our sap from the buckets. We learned that traditionally, heating would have taken place in a “sugar shack” or “maple house”; We were all given popsicle sticks and enjoyed stories of the origins of maple syrup while our guide made us snow-rolled maple candies with warm maple syrup.
Another black and white photo shows a team of horses pulling a sleigh loaded with equipment. I wondered if these were the horses that my father, a blacksmith, would make special barred and studded shoes for so they could traverse heavy snow or icy trails in the bush.
A charcoal sketch also caught my eye. It showed a few natives, clad in furs, hacking down trees with an ax in a dense thicket. This also brought back memories of a family friend, Mona, taking a tour of the sugar bushes on her ancestral land. She would take visitors to a ceremonial circle where a large cauldron hung from a birch log tripod over the fire and explain to everyone the technique of making maple sugar hundreds of years ago. She would demonstrate how her ancestors plunged hot stones into the sap to reduce it to syrup by evaporating excess water. She explained how maple syrup was used medicinally and how children could taste very sweet by removing the layer of frozen water after the sap had been frozen overnight.
Other memorabilia, like the several pairs of old snowshoes with leather straps, too high to touch, the spike display, and an old blackboard where someone recorded recording dates from 1906. In the hallway was a deed. land dating back to 1892. The best part eating the pancakes covered in maple syrup. I grabbed a maple frosting recipe card (attached) and signed up for the horse-drawn sleigh ride through the trendy sugar bush. I loved seeing the countless blue pipe tubes attached to the trees and seeing the reverse osmosis machine. Next time you go to a maple farm, ask to see the evaporator and ask how they get rid of the dreaded sugar sand. Some locations will have a device similar to a pool test kit called a “leveler.” This will grade the maple syrup from dark to light or sweet to super sweet. Tea Ontario Maple Syrup Producers Association state”All retail maple syrup sold by Ontario producers, regardless of grade, must contain a minimum sugar content of 66 percent and be created exclusively from concentrated maple sap. The difference between maple syrups is strictly the color and intensity of their maple flavor.”
See you in the canning tank.