Event

Bigleaf Maple Syrup Workshop

Join us in the forest with Heidi Bohan, ethnobotanist and traditional skills specialist, for this hands-on interactive program learning how to tap, collect and process our native bigleaf maple sap into syrup for backyard, small-scale production. Bigleaf maple sap and syrup are nutritious and delicious, high in magnesium and potassium, and useful from sap to syrup to candy. Its flavor is on a par, and many believe better, than the sugar maple syrup we all know from the East Coast, and there are tricks unique to bigleaf maple for selecting good trees to tap. We'll also discuss, and perhaps test, other native trees useful for tapping for syrup. It is amazing to be able to supply a healthy sugar source from our own backyards as part of sustainable living.
Participants will practice setting taps and collectors, and will assist with processing at various stages, sample syrups and recipes made using maple sap and syrup, and leave with handouts, a starter set of taps and tubing, and the experience to identify and tap their own trees. The harvest season extends well through February most years, so this will be a timely workshop for those who want to incorporate this into their foraging calendar.

For more info about Heidi Bohan: www.heidibohan.com;
For more info about Melaney Creek Farms: https://www.malaneycreekfarm.com/