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To Spring or not to Spring

 Article by Vera Marinkovic, March 2008

Spring - Melting Snowman

It is well known that March is the month when spring officially arrives, and in Eastern Ontario, Canada, it is said that the sure sign of spring is the Warkworth Maple Syrup Festival which occurs the second weekend in March.

Well…..we tried today on March 08, 2008 to welcome spring, at list unofficially, however we were unsuccessful.

We left our home in Toronto totally ready for the Maple Syrup Festival. We put on our  winter waterproof boots, packed cameras and left with empty stomachs and huge appetites - because the Maple Syrup Festival is all about pancakes, sausages and maple syrup. We headed up to Sandy Flat Sugar Bush and the Village of Warkworth, roughly 150km east of Toronto. After about an hour of driving we have realized that this could turn into unpleasant experience since the weather forecast for today was the worst snowstorm of the season. Outside was really, really bad. Snowflakes were huge and were dropping fast, making the roads slow and slippery, so we decided to return back to Toronto.

So, this year we will have to wait for spring to officially arrive and we are looking forward for the next year Maple Syrup Festival when we will enjoy horse drawn sleigh rides, maple syrup demonstrations and delicious taffy on the snow. Until then, we will have to enjoy the great Canadian tradition at the comfort of our home with home-made pancakes and bottled maple syrup.

Things to know about Maple Syrup:

-Maple Syrup is unique to the southeastern part of Canada and the northeastern part of the United States

-Ontario is the fourth largest maple syrup producer in the world following Quebec, Vermont and New York State

-Maple sap flows best on still, sunny days

-Maple sap can run at the rate of up to 150 drops-per-minute

--It requires an average of 40 litres of sap to make one litre of syrup

-Pure maple syrup has no fat and no proteins and is a good source of 3 essential elements - calcium, iron and thiamin

-Maple sap is boiled in order to produce maple syrup. It is boiled even further to produce maple cream, maple sugar, and maple candy.

-Like fine wines, there are vast differences in the tastes and quality of maple syrup.

- The sugar content of sap averages 2.5 percent .To be sold legally, maple syrup must have at least 66% sugar content

-The maple syrup season lasts from three to six weeks

-As soon as the buds on the trees begin to open, the sap is no longer suitable for making syrup

-A maple tree has to be around 30 years old and 30 cm in diameter before it is large enough to tap for syrup production

-As the tree increases in diameter, more taps can be added - up to a maximum of four taps

-Taking a small amount of sap does not damage the tree and only 10 percent of the sap is collected each year

Happy Travelling!

Editor Red

Spring is in the air.....Toronto

Another spring photo......Toronto