Maple Syrup Festival
~ by Paige Langenderfer
The National Maple Syrup Festival will celebrate its second year in Brown County in March. The festival is scheduled for March 5 and 6 at Brown County State Park. Festival guests will learn the basics of maple syrup and the sugaring process, will be able to see how maple syrup is produced and used today, and learn about the history behind maple syrup production.
Events slated for the festival include sap boiling, hikes to identify maple trees and see the sap flowing, presentations by syrup producers, the Great Maple Syrup Heist Challenge Coarse, maple syrup flights with wood branding sponsored by Rawhide Ranch, and onsite cooking by Boy Scouts.
There will also be live reenactments of Native American and French Colonial maple sugaring techniques. Delaware and Shawnee descendants will reenact how their Native American ancestors made maple syrup more than 200 years ago. Reenactors will also demonstrate how the French made maple sugar in the New World using European-made tools.
Eric Freeman, festival coordinator, said the festival is a great way to shake off cabin fever and get out in nature.
“ The festival teaches guests how maple syrup is produced,” Freeman said.“ Not many people know that there is an enormous difference between pancake syrup and maple syrup.”
Freeman explained that pancake syrup is made of 100 percent corn syrup and maple syrup is made by boiling down the sap that comes out of maple trees.
Just like many other crops, there is only one season a year that maple sap can be gathered. Maple trees can only be tapped in the spring,
50 Our Brown County Jan./ Feb. 2016
Modern-day syrup-making techniques demonstrated in Brown County State Park. photo by Shirley Lance
after the first thaw. The season can be as short as a few days to as long as a few weeks.
Trees must be 10 to 12 inches in circumference before they can be tapped, which means tapped trees are likely between 10 and 15 years old. It takes 40 gallons of sap to make one gallon of maple syrup.
Freeman said many people are surprised to find out that maple syrup is produced in Indiana each year before anywhere else in the country.
“ Geographically, Indiana holds the southern and westernmost position in the United States’ Maple Sugar Belt, meaning as winter gives way to spring the sap flows first in Indiana’ s maple stands,” he said.“ Brown County, which is Indiana’ s most densely forested county, is an ideal location for the festival as it is rich in natural resources and home to a wide variety of maple trees.”
The festival will feature plenty of opportunities for attendees to sample maple syrup. The Sweet Victory Challenge, the Festival’ s national recipe contest, will again challenge participants to find creative uses for maple syrup, in a variety of dishes guests may sample alongside jury panelists deciding who gets national bragging rights.
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