Campers learn to turn sap into syrup

Photo By Sgt. 1st Class Dalton Smith | Paul Friedline, a 12-year volunteer at Raccoon Creek State Park, pours sap into an evaporator to boil it down into maple syrup.  

HOOKSTOWN, PA, UNITED STATES

03.15.2015

Story by Pfc. Justin Snyder 

354th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment

HOOKSTOWN, Pa. - Traveling throughout the wooded terrain of Raccoon Creek State Park in Hookstown, Pennsylvania, you can almost feel spring and the aroma of maple is filling the air.

Travel deeper into the park and a sweet, sticky smoke billows from a stainless steel pan firmly planted atop cinder blocks in the parking lot of the camp’s recreation center.

Here a group of volunteers and park employees are leading a workshop designed to teach the public how to make maple syrup from the trees.

“Maple trees are scattered all throughout the state and people do not realize the resource they have right in their own backyards,” said Patrick Adams, an environmental educator at the park. “We want to educate the public on how they can make their own syrup at an affordable price and get people back out in nature in the process.”

The workshop has been held annually for the past 15 years and costs 20 dollars to attend. Participants are taught the historical impact of maple syrup dating back to early Native American traditions and learn the proper techniques of acquiring the sap from the trees.

“We teach them just about everything you could ever want to know about maple syrup dating back to it’s origins in this country,” said Adams, a native of Hookstown. “In the process we show them how to identify the proper trees to use and let them get their hands a little dirty in the process.”

Scattered throughout the park, plastic jugs hung from 50 red maple trees to collect nearly 100 gallons of dripping sap. After boiling the water out of the sap, it produced roughly 2 gallons of edible maple syrup.

For some of the participants, the workshop is a way to get out in nature and enjoy the friendly confines of the wilderness, while others came to learn more about making maple syrup.

“I’ve always been curious to how the evaporator actually works,” said Ben Ranney, class participant and a native of Center County, Pa. “You never realize how much work goes into something like this and it’s a unique experience to see it all happen.”

For Paul Friedline, a volunteer and a native of Mars, Pa., he has family roots in the sugaring hobby. His ancestors made syrup as a way to make ends meet and he enjoys the ability to pass on a family tradition to future generations of people.

“It’s a cool feeling of being able to connect the dots of our ancestors and the current generation of people,” said Friedline. “These kids can have their phones and video games. But give me a fire and fresh maple syrup, and I’m happy as can be.”

• Date Taken: 03.15.2015
• Date Posted: 03.18.2015 22:41
• Story ID: 157456
• Location: HOOKSTOWN, PA, US