Maple syrup is a tasty rite of spring
Tapping trees, collecting sap and boiling it down for a delicious syrup is a time-consuming but satisfying endeavour. But you don’t have to do all that to enjoy maple syrup season locally.
It’s the most wonderful time of the year! Not Christmas, although that’s pretty great. And it’s not back to school, as welcome as that is for parents. No, it’s maple syrup season, that delightful harbinger of spring in eastern Canada.
For me, with my love of DIY, this season meant that a few years ago I tapped the big old maple tree in our backyard to try my hand at making syrup. I purchased a couple of spiles (the little spouts you tap into the tree to let the sap run) from a mail order company in Ontario. Then I drilled a hole in my maple tree, and gently tapped it in.
I hung a bucket on the hook of the spile and put a lid over the bucket (the ants got in anyway) and waited for the sap to run.
And run it did. For a few glorious days I had a steady run of sap, which I kept in the fridge until I had enough to boil down.
Then I strained it through a coffee filter and started boiling the litre and a half or so of sap on the stove to concentrate the sugar. As it boiled down, I put it in smaller and smaller pots, until by the end I was reducing it in a stainless-steel camping mug over the simmer burner on our gas stove.
The end result? About four tablespoons of syrup. I made pancakes and enjoyed the fruits of my labour.
In Hamilton, if you want to learn about the process, but don’t want to do it yourself, we have some great options when it comes to visiting sugar shacks and sugaring offs.
The granddaddy, of course, is Westfield Heritage Village, which every year pulls out all the stops from late February until about the end of March. Their event runs every Sunday in March, and Wednesday and Thursday during March break, and features costumed historical interpreters demonstrating historic methods of making maple syrup.
From the village, it’s a short tromp through the sugar bush to check out the sap flowing into traditional metal buckets and onto Westfield’s sugar shack. Here, you can sample the traditional maple syrup on a stick rolled in crushed ice or snow.
Of course, you would be remiss if you didn’t stop by the St. George Lions Club Hall afterwards (just outside the park entrance) for a pancake feast, complete with – you guessed it – more maple syrup. Head across the lane to the gift shop if you want to pick up a bottle to take home.
Reservations are required, and it’s a good idea to book early, as the event fills up every year. The event is technically free for Hamilton Conservation Area (HCA) pass holders, but there is a $10 online booking fee.
If you want to go even further back in history, you’ll need to check out Crawford Lake Conservation Area in Burlington for its Sweet Water festival. Here you can visit a replica 15th-century longhouse belonging to the Deer Clan and learn about traditional Indigenous ways of making maple syrup. You’ll also get to sample maple syrup toffee, do a syrup tasting and relax by a roaring fire pit.
The event runs from March 1 to April 6, on weekends, holidays and over March break. Reservations are not required for this event but are a good idea to avoid disappointment. The event is free to Conservation Halton pass holders.
Should you have a maple tree, and get bitten by the DIY bug, spiles are fairly easily available to order online. Just make sure to drill the hole in the tree that’s the depth of the spile. Tap it into the hole very gently. If you split the bark around the spile, the sap will just run out and down the tree and you won’t get any in your bucket.
Finally, you should never try tapping a maple tree that is less than 30cm in diameter. If a tree that’s too small loses that much sap, it could damage or even kill the tree.
Whether you make it yourself, or buy it from a small local producer, maple syrup is the one treat that signals that spring is really just around the corner.
