Mingo’s maples share sweet treat with visitors
Drip. Drip. Drip.
More than a dozen maple trees scattered across Mingo Creek County Park were tapped earlier this month and slowly, but surely, flowed their watery sap into buckets to eventually be evaporated and converted into sweet syrup.
The annual educational event at the Washington County park in Nottingham Township includes a pancake breakfast that allows the county’s Parks and Recreation Department to teach people about the science behind making maple syrup.
“This is not a large-scale operation. We’re not a commercial producer,” parks Superintendent Jeff Donahue said. “We make enough syrup to host a public breakfast each year.”
The pancake breakfast with all the normal rise-and-shine fixings costs only $3, which pays for the food, but it attracts a couple hundred people and has been happening for about 25 years, Donahue said. This year’s event on a “bright and sunny” Saturday morning on March 14 wowed visitors with sap dripping generously from the maples.
“It’s a 45-minute tour where we trace the beginnings of maple sugar and then work through the history to the modern day operations,” Donahue said. “We demonstrate various ways you can collect sap from a maple tree and then end up in our backyard evaporator. It’s very popular.”
The parks staff invites visitors to watch them as workers tap 15 to 20 trees in the park and witness as the sap flows out of the trees and into buckets. The clear sap – which Donahue said is about 95% water – is then evaporated with steam billowing into the air, condensing it into a sugary syrup.
“The most shocking thing is when they see the actual tree sap. Oh, my goodness, it looks like water. Which it is, basically. It’s 95% water solution. When you see it in a pail or bag or bucket, some people will say that’s just water. It isn’t. It’s mostly water,” he said.
The tour takes delighted visitors on a loop trail with different stations before they enjoy breakfast at the park office. The maple syrup collected from the previous year’s event is used to smother pancakes in sugary goodness.
“Nothing is left over. We use a couple of gallons for the breakfast every year,” Donahue said.
In addition to people enjoying a delicious breakfast, the annual event helps people discover county parks like Mingo Creek while also learning about the maple syrup making process.
“It’s more educational than production. People come out and it’s amazing that this all began with people using stone tools chopping the bark away from trees,” he said.
More information about the Washington County Parks and Recreation Department can be found online at www.washingtoncopa.gov/parks-and-recreation.