In New York, spring means maple! Maple syrup and sugar are key agricultural products in New York and part of the state’s heritage. Many of our state parks and historic sites offer maple programs during the late winter and early spring. The last two weekends of March are Maple Weekends in New York, when producers large and small invite the public to see the process and sample some syrup. In this post, we’ll not only tell you how maple syrup is made, but uncover its past as a symbol of American independence and of the anti-slavery movement.

From Sap To Syrup

Making maple syrup has a lengthy tradition in Northeastern North America. Long before anyone wrote about it, Native Americans gathered sap from cuts made in maple trees that they boiled to concentrate the sugar. Once Europeans arrived in North America, they too began collecting sap and boiling it in large pots, evaporating the water to make syrup and sugar.