March Madness -- Where Squirrels Go to Learn About Maple Sugaring

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Maple syrup is delicious on Cream of Wheat and its gathering is the stuff of cozy legends of northern springtimes and boiling tubs of sap.

As you pour that sweet sticky brown goo over your waffles and smack your lips, however, consider that it came from starch accumulated during the previous summer and stored over the winter in the zylem parenchyma of a maple tree where it was hydrolyzed by special "contact cells."

Consider, too, that it takes 40 gallons of sap to make one gallon of syrup and you will come to a new respect of the maple and the sugar makers.

If you didn't know this already, you may not know that March is maple sugaring month across the northern U.S, either, and perhaps it's time you tuned in to librarian David Bertuca in the University at Buffalo Arts and Sciences Libraries.

He knows more about maple trees than most squirrels do and shares all on a Web site he created for UB's Science and Engineering Library. It's called "Tapping into Spring: The Art & Science of Maple Sugaring" and may be viewed at http://ublib.buffalo.edu/libraries/asl/guides/maple.html.

The site presents the background, history and science of sugaring, and gives visitors the locations of regional "sugarbushes" (most in New York State) where they can see, smell and gobble up the products of sugaring, from golden syrups to candies, cookies and eggnogs.

If your bloodstream can handle another jolt of sugar, the site will direct you to recipes for cakes, hams, cookies, fritters, ribs and even milkshakes and caramelized bananas, all culled from the files of New York, New England and Michigan cooks and epicurious.com.

Bertuca says, "Come online and learn about sap flow and the physics of sugar making! Visit the disturbing world in which hydrolyzed starch can reach concentrations of three to five percent and prime the maple tree's amazing plumbing system."

Visitors to the Web site can learn how they can participate in Maple Sunday, sponsored by the New York State Maple Producers Association, on March 19-21. Seventy-five maple-syrup producers statewide will host special open houses to demonstrate the art of making maple syrup. Information about where to go and how to get there is on the UB site.