4 March 2025
This winter we’ve hated the cold weather but the freezing temperatures have been good for maple sugaring in March. Cold as it was, this winter was closer to what we had before climate change and the maples in Pittsburgh are happy about it.
Maple sap runs best when daytime temperatures are above freezing and nights are below freezing. When the nights don’t freeze the sap stops running, and the season is over. Last year the season ended early because it was so hot.
Audubon Society of Western Pennsylvania (ASWP) has used three methods to collect sap from sugar maples at several of their properties: traditional buckets, bags, and tubes. Yesterday at Beechwood Farms I could tell the sap was running because the bags were filling up.
All told, it takes 40 gallons of sap to make just about 1 gallon of syrup. The sap, which is 2% sugar and 98% water, tastes like lightly sweetened water, tasty and refreshing, but lacking in flavor. The boiling process reduces the liquid until the concentration is 65% sugar.
— PA Eats: Pennsylvania Maple Syrup
ASWP’s outdoor Maple Madness events will demonstrate how maple syrup is made.
To sign up for these events visit ASWP’s Program Listings website.
- Maple for Scouts. at Beechwood Farms 3/8/2025, Succop 3/15, and Buffalo Creek Nature Park in Sarver 3/22
- Hike Through Maple History: Maple Madness. at Beechwood Farms 3/15/2025 and 3/22
- Sweetest Season
- Maple Drink Tasting, Adults Only Happy Hours: Maple Madness. at Buffalo Creek Nature Park 3/6/2025 and 3/13
Sap collection will end when the maple buds open. (The festivities will continue with pre-collected sap.)
How can you tell that maple buds have opened? From the ground the twigs look thick with little lumps. This red maple was already flowering at Beechwood. Fortunately it’s not the species that produces good sap.
