Sap-to-syrup process to highlight Indiana Maple Weekend March 11-12

Some call it a woods, others a farm, but maple sugar producers call their production area a “sugar bush” or “sugar camp,” and Indiana’s second annual Maple Weekend will open sugar camps around the state so guests can see how trees are tapped, how sap gets to the sugar house and how it becomes maple syrup and other maple products.

The Indiana Maple Syrup Association (IMSA) is hosting Maple Weekend, Saturday and Sunday, March 11 and 12, at 10 sugar camps around the state, including Harris Sugar Bush north of Greencastle.

The event will be 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.

Operated by Rebecca and Arthur Harris, Harris Sugar Bush is a 6,000-tap operation at 999 E. CR 325 North. It includes a full-service store offering maple products made on-site, including maple cream, maple candy, maple sugar, maple mustard and maple cotton candy, in addition to locally made pancake/waffle mixes and other syrup-related items.

The sugar camp operates with tubing and a vacuum system, a modern improvement on buckets hanging on trees, and guests will be able to see the full sap-to-syrup process.

The full Maple Weekend schedule, with locations and hours, are posted on the IMSA website, at www.IndianaMapleSyrup.org. Details also are on the “Indiana Maple Syrup Weekend” Facebook page.

Indiana is one of the southwesternmost states in the U.S. Maple Belt, and because spring’s warmth causes sap to flow, it flows here first. Maple Weekend will be an outdoor activity to beat cabin fever, one that will encourage guests to meet Indiana syrup producers – called sugar makers, to see where food comes from, how it is produced, and to learn the difference and value between maple and pancake syrup.

“Maple Weekend is an opportunity for people to see what we do and how we do it, and to increase awareness of Indiana maple products,” said Dave Hamilton, president of the Indiana Maple Syrup Association and past president of the North American Maple Syrup Council.

Based in New Castle, Hamilton is the third in a five-generation syrup-making business started by his father-in-law.

The event will involve sugar makers with sugar camps able to accommodate visitors, however most venues will be rustic, and all will be muddy due to the spring thaw impacting the ground as much as the sap flow.

“Guests should dress appropriately for an outdoor, spring event and expect an eye-opening experience,” Hamilton said. “Sugar making is a lot of fun for anyone who enjoys being outdoors in the early spring, and we encourage guests to visit two or three sugar camps in their area.”

Sugar camps operate differently, so those who have seen one, certainly have not seen them all. Some sugar makers collect sap in buckets and move it to the sugar house by hand, however many use tubing. With tubes running from tree to tree throughout the woods, some sap is gravity fed to a collection point. Others use vacuum pumps to move thousands of gallons of sap to their evaporator – some being top-of-the-line stainless steel machines, others handmade and used by generations of the same family. Sugar making in Indiana tends to be a family tradition, with many in the third, fourth and fifth generations of the activity.

For sap to flow, nighttime temperatures have to fall below freezing, and daytime temperatures have to be near 40 degrees. That daily freeze and thaw is key. Long days of temperatures below freezing cause the sap not to flow, and long days of temperatures above 40 degrees cause the sap to dry up.

Maple sugar production is completely weather-dependent, so what guests will see at Indiana sugar camps during Maple Weekend will vary. Two consistencies will be wonderful stories of tradition, along with the fascinating process of turning 40 gallons of sap into one gallon of syrup.