814-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, January 8, 2000
Sample And Purchase Maple Syrup At Farm Show
CAROLYN N. MOYER
Bradford Co. Correspondent
COLUMBIA CROSS ROADS
(Bradford Co.) As you wander
through the maple exhibit at the
Pennsylvania Farm Show, you’re
not far from the place where some
of nature’s sweet syrup can be pur
chased or sampledJn fact, some
people make it a point to visit the
exhibit every year to stock up on
the thick, rich substance.
The Pennsylvania Maple Syrup
Council has been sponsoring a
booth at the Pennsylvania Farm
Show since 1966, according to
Lawrence and Genevieve Rolo
son, who have made the January
jaunt to work in the booth every
year since then.
“At a meeting, (the Pennsylva
nia Maple Syrup Council) decided
that they would like to promote the
industry and they thought a good
way to do it was to get into a farm
show, so they rented space and
each of the five associations was to
furnish a quantity of maple pro
duct,” noted Roloson.
For the first 20 years, the coun
cil actively handed out samples of
maple cream. Lately, because of
manpower shortages, the council
does not actively offer samples,
although if you ask at the booth,
representatives will be glad to let
you have a taste.
“As part of our promotion, and
to try to get people to try some
thing different, we give out maple
cream or maple butter samples.
That’s nothing but maple syrup
that has been boiled a little longer.
You can use it on toast like a
spread. We would give samples of
this on a slick and people would
ask, ‘What is this, face cream? or
What do we do with this?’ It’s
amazing to watch them taste it
Some of the people have never had
it before. Once they’ve tasted it
they come back year after year for
more,” said Ada Hess, who with
her husband Bob tap about 1,000
trees in Dimock, Susquehanna
County. "Die Hess’s have been
making and selling maple syrup
for 35 years.
“When we started farming, we
got into it as a family project. It’s
still a family project” said Ada.
You can also have a taste of the
maple products in the food court
where volunteers dish up soft serve
maple yogurt, maple sundaes,
maple cotton candy, and maple
coated peanuts.
“For about the past 10 years,
we’ve been running a booth at two
spots, our regular one in the main
exhibition building and the one at
the food court,” said Roloson.
The Roloson’s home maple
operation is also run by family
members. They man their 3,500
taps and accept sap from other pro
ducers in the area. Then they set to
work boiling the sap down until
most of the water is evaporated and
the syrup becomes just the right
thickness. On avetage it takes
about 40 gallons of sap to make
one gallon of maple syrup.
The laps go out about the 10th of
February.
“When the snow starts to melt,
it’s time to tap the trees,” said
Roloson, who has been involved in
his family’s operation since he was
two years old. He is now 79.
The same procedure is followed
on the farm of Jim and Dora Tice in
Mainesburg, Tioga County. Every
spring, they put out about 3,000
taps.
“We bought a neighboring prop
erty from where I was bom,” said
Jim Tice, “and we’ve been making
syrup for about 20 years at the pre
sent location. Before that it was a
home-use type of operation.”
The Tice’s especially enjoy
making maple cotton candy, which
they sell at fairs across the state as
well as the Pennsylvania Farm
Show.
“We sell quite a lot of cotton
candy,” noted Tice. “We give out
samples everywhere we go and
that really sells it. It’s all natural.
We take the maple crumb sugar
made from dark amber syrup and
blend it with white sugar. Then it’s
just a matter of pouring the mix
into the machine. The machine
melts it and spins it out as cotton
candy.”
One of the main promotion
goals of the Pennsylvania Maple
Syrup Council was to let Pennsyl
vania people know that Pennsylva
nia is a big maple syrup producer.
“We’ve had people come up to
the booth and ask, ‘Where in Ver
mont did you get your maple syr
up?’ or T didn’t know that Pen
nsylvania produces maple syrup! ’”
said Roloson.
According to the most recent
statistics from the National Agri
cultural Statistics Service, Pen
nsylvania ranks 7th with 67,000
gallons produced in 1999. By far,
in the United States, Vermont is
the biggest producer of syrup with
370,000 gallons produced in 1999.
Other top states include New
York, Maine, Ohio, Wisconsin,
and Michigan.
Besides promotion, the various
maple associations also work
together to form grading standards
for the syrup and to make sure that
only pure maple syrup is labeled as
such.
"When we say pure maple syr
up,” said Hess, “That’s exactly
what it is. There’s nothing else in
Universities are also involved in
ongoing research to develop the
“sweetest trees” or the trees with
the highest sugar content in their
sap and to study the minerals
naturally found in the syrup.
New technology is also being
developed that takes some of the
leg work out of the maple business.
Lawrence Roloson’s earliest
memories of making maple syrup
were of a big iron kettle hung out
side over a stack of firewood.
“We would collect the sap in
buckets and carry it to the kettles.
Then, after it boiled down a little,
we’d take it into the house to finish
it,” Roloson said.
Soon, more and more producers
moved to a sugar house where the
syrup could be boiled in long, shal
low evaporating pans, although the
sap was still largely collected in
buckets. From there, producers
started attaching plastic tubes to
the spiles and collecting the sap in
a central location. The pipeline, as
it is called, saves a lot of time and
effort.
Other technologies that are
being developed is a process called
reverse osmosis, where some of
the water is taken out of the sap
before it gets to the evaporator.
Some producers also preheat their
sap in coils that are placed over the
boiling pan, saving time and
energy.
After the sap is boiled down, it is
canned and labeled and ready to
sell.
In case you think maple syrup is
just for pancakes, think again. All
producers say that maple syrup,
and maple crumb sugar, add flavor
and sweetness to just about any
dish from baked apples to baked
beans to cookies. Genevieve Rolo
son is a big promoter of maple and
has included two recipes for every
one to try.
MAPLE SYRUP
COOKIES
1 cup maple syrup
1 egg
'A cup shortening
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 cups flour
A teaspoon salt
1 cup chopped nut meats or cho
colate chips.
Cream together maple syrup,
egg and shortening, add dry ingre
dients, and mix well. Drop on coo
kie sheets and bake at 350 degrees
for 10-12 minutes.
MAPLE
OATMEAL BARS
'A cup softened shortening
A cup granulated sugar
A cup maple syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 egg
Vi cup flour
Vi teaspoon baking powder
l A teaspoon salt
'A cup chopped walnuts
1 cup quick cooking oatmeal
Cream together shortening,
sugar and egg, and blend in maple
syrup and vanilla. Sift flour with
baking soda and salt. Combine
with nuts and oatmeal and add to
batter. Place in a 9x9 inch greased
baking pan. Bake at 350 degrees
for 35 minutes. Cut into bars when
still warm. Makes about 12-16
bars.
Since 1966, Pennsylvania Maple products have been represented at the Farm
Show. Here Ada Hess and Lawrence Roloson man the booth with the help of two
Maple Sweethearts.
Ag Scholarship Applicants Wanted
ST. LOUIS, Mo. - The
Commitment to Agriculture
scholarship program is seeking
applicants for $1,500 scholar
ships to be awarded to 100 high
school seniors planning to con
tinue their education in agricul
ture.
The program, which is spon
sored by the American Farm
Bureau® Foundation for
Agriculture and Monsanto
Company, is for high school
seniors from families actively
engaged in production agricul
ture
Applicants must be planning
to attend, beginning in the fall of
2000, an accredited
vocational/technical institute,
community college or four-year
Lawrence and Genevieve Roloson stand by a variety of
containers that they use for maple syrup. The Rolosons
have been involved with the booth at the Pennsylvania
Farm Show from the start and will volunteer their time this
year as well.
college or university that offers
an academic major in a field
related to agriculture. In addi
tion, applicants must be plan
ning a career in agriculture.
“Supporting education in
agriculture is important to the
future of American farming,”
said Marsha Purcell of the
Foundation for Agriculture.
“Tomorrow’s agriculture leaders
will be among the students
helped with this program.”
In its first year in 1999, the
Commitment to Agriculture pro
gram awarded 50 scholarships
to students in 28 states. The
2000 program was expanded to
100 scholarships for students in
all 50 states.
The scholarship program is
supported by royalties received
from settlements involving pira
cy of patented biotech seed,
including Roundup Ready® soy
beans, cotton and canola, and
Bollgard® cotton.
Successful applicants must
exhibit a scholastic ability to
succeed in a higher education
setting and a strong interest in
an agricultural career. The one
time scholarship awards are
good for one year.
Scholarship applicants are
available at Farm Bureau
offices, agricultural supply
retailers, on-line at www.agfoun
dation.org and www.farm
source.com or by calling 615-
320-3149. The application dead
line is Apr. 1, 2000. Applicants
will be notified of scholarship
results by May 15, 2000