Tag Archives: maple

Another Delicious Pancake Breakfast

This past weekend we enjoyed fluffy pancakes, fresh Drumlin Farm sausage and potatoes, and real maple syrup at our annual Farmer’s Breakfast. Visitors were able to learn about the “sap-to-syrup” journey that starts with tapping a maple tree….

Our sugarbush has a few of our resident sugar maple trees tapped and collecting sap, which later becomes the Drumlin Farm syrup you can buy at our admissions window. The drip is slow and the mapling season is short, but the product is sweet!

The tapping involves drilling a hole into the trunk of the tree, which visitors were able to try for themselves at the Pond House.

The sap collected from the trees is actually 97% water. The water gets boiled out in our evaporator and among the sweet smelling steam you can find the beginnings of maple syrup.

At this stage, visitors were able to enjoy samplings of the “maple tea” that is made; not as thick as maple syrup, but still delicious.

For those of us that didn’t grow up on maple farms, this process is eye opening and a definite photo-opp to take advantage of.

Outside the Nature Center, we prepared the perfect syrup soaker – fresh pancakes!

Inside, we warmed up with pancakes with real maple syrup, Drumlin Farm sausage and roasted potatoes, and coffee. This hearty breakfast was perfect for the brisk, sunny winter days we had.

With a little luck, our raffle winners were also able to take home a pancake basket prize!

Thank you to all of our volunteers that helped with preparing, serving, and cleaning, as well as our sponsors this year: Karma Coffee, PEAK Event Services, Stop & Shop, Whole Foods (Sudbury), Donelan’s, and Sudbury Farms. See you next year!

Missed the Pancake Breakfast? Can’t get enough of Drumlin Farm? Browse our other upcoming programs and events in our program catalog.

2017 Report: Maple Sugaring at Drumlin Farm

Information provided by Sarah Lang, Assistant Farmer

Maple sugaring season has come to a close!

The Numbers

2017
Length of season: 4 weeks
Sap collected: 400 gallons
Syrup produced: 6 gallons
Sap-to-syrup ratio: 67:1

2016
Length of season: 7 weeks
Sap collected: 1300 gallons
Syrup produced: 21.3 gallons
Sap-to-syrup ratio: 61:1

Things to note

  • The normal range for sap-to-syrup ratios is 40–50:1. Last year, Drumlin Farm’s sap-to-syrup ratio was also higher than normal. This is likely due to abnormally warm and erratic weather patterns, which had a big influence on the sugar content of our sap.
  • We tapped about half the amount of trees as we normally do this season to give some of our maple trees a rest.

We’d like to thank our staff and volunteers for helping the sugaring season run smoothly. If you have any questions, please contact Sarah Lang: [email protected].

There are limited quantities of maple syrup available for purchase at the Drumlin Farm admissions window. Grab one on your next visit!

 

Maple Sugaring Update: It’s Warm!

As you enjoy the unseasonably warm temperatures, this thought might be lingering in the back of your head:

Um…It’s February. Shouldn’t it be cold? And what does this mean for the winter activities I love?

For us at the farm, we have to think about how the warm weather might affect our maple sugaring season. Last year, we had an early start due to the mild winter. In the middle of the season, our collecting halted only for a moment, then ideal temperatures started again and we had a longer-than-usual season. We asked Farmer Sarah some questions about what this “spring spell” might mean for this year.

What are the ideal temperatures for maple sugaring?

40 degree days and 20 degree nights.

When did we start tapping the trees at Drumlin Farm this year?

Just before the first big snowfall in January.

How’s the season going so far?

So far the sap flow has been slow. This might be because of the erratic temperature swings, or maybe it has something to do with the drought last summer and the trees being stressed, some combo, or something else entirely.

How might the recent warm temperatures affect our taps?

We might see sap flow stop entirely. This happened in at least one of the warm spells last year. We need hard frosts at night to recharge the sap flow. The flow will start up again if it gets cold again, unless the trees reach the budding stage. If the warm temps continue long enough the trees will bud early, and that’s the end of the sugaring season (chemical changes in the trees/sap cause the sap to turn yellow and taste bad). Snow on the ground also helps prolong the season, so we might see a shorter season if we don’t get more snow.

So while this warm weather might be a relief for the winter blues, we’d like more winter, please! Our Pancake Breakfast could use some Drumlin Farm maple syrup!