A Rich Heritage Stays Memorably Sweet
A sheer mention of maple sugaring seems to go hand in hand with Ohio’s largest syrup producer in the state — Geauga County.
A sheer mention of maple sugaring seems to go hand in hand with Ohio’s largest syrup producer in the state — Geauga County.
The rich and treasured tradition is passed down by generations along with its sweet memories.
“I think that when we reminisce about making maple syrup in the old days, we want to reconnect with the people that we shared that experience with,” said Les Ober, of The Ohio State University Extension in Geauga County, during a Geauga Park District presentation Feb. 4. “The process itself was nothing but hard work, but the camaraderie with family and friends is full of priceless memories.”
Geauga Park District Naturalist Dan Best moderated the “Sweet Memories of Maple Sugaring” program, which featured members of The Maple Producers of Northeast Ohio, the sharing of audience artifacts and memories, and a montage of vintage maple sugaring photographs.
“It is such an integral part and fabric of Geauga County,” Best said, a veteran educator on maple sugaring.
In addition to members of the maple producers group, panelists included generational producers Dee Below, of Messenger Century Farm, Jen Freeman, of Richard’s Maple Products, and Jeff Burr, of Geauga Maple.
The MP of NE Ohio is a new group dedicated to making high quality maple syrup products through the education of producers and the public, using proper forest management, stewardship, the latest technology and techniques, and preserving the maple heritage, according to the organization.
“In today’s modern ‘Anywhere, USA’ homogenized culture and economy, I hope that the audience will come away with a greater sense and appreciation — among residents and visitors alike — for what is unique and special about Geauga County, that which makes it stand apart from other places that they’ve lived or visited,” Best said.
“I hope this program will establish or further foster, especially among Geauga residents, a ‘sense of place’ that expresses itself as a sense of pride for their community.”
Burr is a seven generational sugar maker and operator of one of the largest maple syrup operations in the county, with 11,000 taps. He offered his perspective on the impact of new invention.
“It’s nice to look back, but I would never want to return to the way we originally made syrup,” Burr said.
Ober said modern technology has changed everything for the better, in general. He said attempting to run 11,000 taps on buckets today would be impossible.
Origins of Geauga’s deeply ingrained maple sugaring tradition can be best traced to the New England settlers who came to Ohio’s Western Reserve early in the 1800s.
“These settlers arrived here as sugar-makers, their ancestors having learned from the native peoples of New England in the 1500s and 1600s,” Best said.
Best added the American beech and sugar maple trees were and are the most dominant forest type in the region, with a Snowbelt climate suitable for an abundant growth of sugar maples.
“As a collision of climatic, cultural and culinary conditions, the rest is history, so to speak, as maple sugar and later syrup production went from a frontier subsistence food to a farm table staple, to the gourmet delicacy it is today,” Best said.
Ober described today’s modern syrup making as a technological marvel.
“The machines we run and the way we make syrup is equally addictive,” Ober said.
The process includes spending countless hours designing and installing tubing systems, processing syrup with reverse osmosis and boiling the syrup down on ultra-efficient evaporators.
“We make a quality product that we are proud to sell,” Ober said. “Many would say that with all of this modern equipment, we have lost the ambiance of making maple syrup.”
Maple syrup hobbyist producer Ralph Brown, of Auburn Township — who was joined by his wife, JoAnn, daughter, Jena Ianiro, and her daughter, Josephine — shared his more than a century old scoop.
Maple sugaring origins and memories traced back to Ralph’s grandpa, Charles Brown, then to Ralph’s father, Elmer Brown.
“Dad was making syrup for $5 a gallon back then,” Brown said, of his dad, a dairy farmer. “When I was a kid, we did it for a living.”
Ralph said family-sugaring production is a time when phones are pretty much set aside and they go back to the olden days.
“How you lived without the phones,” Ralph said. “Everyone in Auburn when I was a kid was a farmer.”
His daughter and her husband, Walter, now help to carry on the tradition.
“Some of my favorite memories come from the sugarhouse,” Jena said, “I wasn’t aware of the hard work — only the togetherness when boiling. I think it taught me how important family is and keeping memories alive.”
Ober said modern maple sugaring operations have their own attraction.
“We will not look at this chapter in our book on maple sugaring the same way, but there will be good times and many fond memories that will be shared in years to come,” Ober said.
Ralph added, “Once you do it, it’s kind of there. You can’t wait until spring comes.”
Maple Tour of Northeast Ohio:
March 3, 4 and March 10, 11.
This drive-it-yourself tour features sugarhouses across NE Ohio.
Each sugarhouse and operation is unique to the maple producer, sponsored by MP of NE Ohio.
