Forecast for pancake-breakfast season looks sweet indeed

For me, one of the surest signs of spring is the beginning of maple syrup season and the accompanying flurry of pancake breakfasts.

This winter has been a strange one, with warm weather well into December complete with robin sightings and green sprouts from flower bulbs that don’t usually show up until around March. Very-cold days followed in January, before another warm-up — with days close to 60. Then this week’s strong winds blew winter back into the area, along with a lot of fallen branches of maples and other trees.

I wondered what this strange winter means for maple syrup production.

So I called Les Ober, maple expert at the Geauga County Ohio State University Extension office in Burton to find out.

“In the old days, no one tapped until after Presidents Day,” he told me. “But this year we got some pretty good runs at the end of January.”

For the sap inside the trees to initiate the hydraulic action that allows it to be collected, nights in the 20s must be followed by days in the 40s. Syrup can’t be made when it’s too cold.

Ober boiled his first sap of the season Feb. 25 at his home sugarbush, and it was very pale, what’s called “golden delicate” among those who grade syrup. That bodes well for the 2019 syrup season, he said.

“All in all, it’s looking like a pretty satisfying season,” he said.

Visiting a working sugarbush is part of the fun when you head to Burton for a Sunday pancake breakfast. The village’s municipal sugarbush at the Log Cabin at the village green in the middle of the town square is just a short walk from two of the most popular breakfasts. There you can find out how it’s done, buy syrup and maple candy. This year you can pay $7.50 for a Tshirt emblazoned with “I ATE MY WAY THROUGH PANCAKE TOWN USA” and listing the five pancake breakfast locations around the village.

The Log Cabin is operated by the Burton Chamber of Commerce, which is open every day from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. to tell the story of syrup production in Burton.

“It began 88 years ago as a co-op to help farmers sell their syrup,” explained the Chamber’s Amy Wehn, manager of the Log Cabin. “In 1931 there was an electric train that ran to Burton from Cleveland with a banner saying ‘Sugar Camp’ on the side.”

The most popular pancake feasts are served Sundays March 3, 10, 17, 24, and 31. The Burton Fire Department dishes up breakfasts from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the fire station, also on the town square. And just down the street at Berkshire High School, the Middlefield Rotary serves from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.

With five Sundays in March, there’s no excuse not to indulge.

Businesses around the village will be open those Sundays for those who wish to stroll and shop.

But Amish businesses, including their sugarbushes, aren’t open on Sundays.

Those who would like to include an authentic Amish experience during their visit to maple country should head instead to Middlefield, where the Bricker family hosts Saturday pancake breakfasts at their home, 7925 Parkman-Mespo Road. Best known for their Horse & Buggy Dinners, the family is serving breakfasts from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. March 2, 9, 16 and 23. Instead of the expected $8to-$10 charge, they trust that those who come will donate appropriately.

They ask for reservations so they know when to expect you. Like other Amish, they have no phone in their home, so let it ring when you call 440-693-4081. Leave a message and your call will be returned.