March is so sweet thanks to maple syrup

Proof positive that March is the sweetest month of all comes as the maple trees that beautify our backdrops in autumn have begun to flow with the sweet sap that’s made into maple syrup.

When I was a child, my parents would take me out to a pancake breakfast in Burton with a stop at the village square to see how maple sugar is made.

The village sugarbush has been operated there since 1931, and is now under guidance from the Burton Chamber of Commerce.

Tappin’ Sunday, on March 1, officially inaugurates the season when all the maple trees around historic Chardon Square are tapped. The sap that’s gathered is taken to the sugarhouse on the square and boiled down to make maple stirs, which are handed out to bystanders. A maple stir is syrup heated to 235 degrees, spooned into a metal cup and stirred briskly until it foams and becomes a tasty confection of its own.

On the first two weekends in March, farmers and others who collect and boil the sap open their sugarbush operations to the public. Coordinated by the Maple Producers of Northeast Ohio, the self-driving tour takes place from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day. Daylight hours make it easy to negotiate the backroads where Amish buggies carry families on their daily tasks.

Dress for the weather and wear boots you can get dirty because trails can be muddy. Bringing an extra pair of shoes and socks is a good idea for the drive home. Take cash because you likely will want to buy syrup or maple candy and few farmers take credit cards. You’ll also find roadside stands along the way where you can get fresh eggs and other treats.

Some farms host special events such as the free pancake breakfasts at Bissell Maple Farm, 82 W. Ashtabula St., Jefferson.

Many of the Amish rely on maple production this time of year, and the drive-it-yourself tour gives glimpses into their lifestyles of another time. Sugarbushes operated by the Amish are not open on Sunday — a fact clearly detailed on the Maple Tour map. Download it from the Maple Producers website at mpneoh.com.

The map gives addresses and phone numbers along with hours when visitors are welcomed. You’ll see several ways to gather the sap, from buckets hanging from trees to plastic tubing connecting them and leading to the sugarhouse, which is where it’s boiled down into syrup.

The amount of sap needed is generally 40 gallons to make one gallon of syrup, but that depends on the sweetness of the sap. Researchers are trying to develop a super-sweet maple variety.

The sugarhouse, sugarbush and lodge at Geauga Park District’s Swine Creek Reservation make it a perfect place to witness how maple sugaring has evolved from American-Indian traditions to today. Help gather sap with a horse-drawn sap sled and experience the methods used throughout history to make maple syrup. Warm up next to a fire in the lodge and sample maple treats while listening to live music. Go from noon to 4 p.m. on Sundays March 1, 8 and 15. Find Swine Creek Lodge at 16004 Hayes Road in Middlefield.

Now about those pancake breakfasts.

Groups in and around Burton are so well known for the pancake breakfasts they serve with Geauga maple syrup that the Burton-Middle Rotary Club trademarked the moniker “Pancake Town USA.”

The breakfasts, offered by volunteers on Sundays in March, have been served since 1951 by groups such as the Rotary Club, the fire department and Century Village Museum.

The Rotary Club, which has kept track, figures 1.84 million pancakes have been served in that time to more than 588,000 people.

More than 25,100 gallons of maple syrup have been poured over those pancakes, which were served with more than 141,000 pounds of sausage. And more than 1.2 million cups of coffee have been poured for Sunday visitors in the 63 years since then.

Find details on the Rotary’s breakfasts at bit.ly/burton-pancakes-2020.