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Tri-Counties Genealogy & History by Joyce M. Tice
Historic Businesses of the
Tri-Counties
Boiling Sap on Armenia Mountain
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Bradford County PA
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Chemung County NY
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Tioga County PA
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Boiling Sap on Armenia Mountain
Photo No. 68 was that of Charlie Green boiling sap on Armenia Mountain
on the farm where the Leon Putnam family now lives. The procedure in boiling
sap in Charlie’s day was a very primitive operation compared to today’s
methods of evaporators.
He is carrying sap with a neck yoke which eased the job of carrying
two buckets at a time. The wooden containers must be used for sap storage
and the boiling kettle can be seen in the sap shelter. The sugar bush was
located near Tamarack Creek.
The climate on Armenia Mountain was considered more conducive to sap
runs than in the valley, as the nights were colder. Also the season was
longer as the buds were a week or so later starting. But even up there
a south wind would retard the sap flow.
Sap spiles were often made of sumac, which has a hollow stem. The buckets
were wooden. After the season ended the equipment was stored until the
following year when they got out the buckets and soaked them in water to
swell the wood. Otherwise they would leak.
The quality of the maple syrup was not as fine as that made today in
evaporators, but it had a stronger maple flavor. Boiling in open pans or
kettles drew insects and leaves blew into the boiling sap. A skimmer with
holes was used to skim the residue of froth, leaves and bugs. All of these
extra ingredients may have added flavor but the boiling purified the syrup.
When the sap was boiled down to some degree, but not quite thick enough
to take off the fire, there was a danger of it boiling over and catching
fire. That would burn the whole batch and ruin it. A bucket of cold water
close by was used to cool it down or sometimes a rind of bacon fat was
hung by a string over the boiling pan, when the syrup started to boil over,
the fat could be lowered into the pan and it slowed the boiling and kept
it under control.
I do not know how Charlie cleansed his syrup, but we used to bring it
in and reheat it in a kettle on the cook stove and break a couple of egg
into it. As the eggs cooked they accumulated the sediment and it was skimmed
off until the syrup was clear.
After the syrup was canned, if it set too long, rock candy formed in
the bottom of the can, clear and translucent. A real treat. Men who liked
their nip of whiskey would add whiskey to the rock candy in the jar and
used it for cough syrup. The cough seemed to persist until the medicine
was gone.
One of the big jobs of making maple syrup in the old days was getting
up wood for the fire. Today I think the evaporators are heated by more
modern means in most cases. As the sap boils it runs from one compartment
of the evaporator to another until the finished product is of a very fine
quality.
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Bradford County PA
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Chemung County NY
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Tioga County PA
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Published On Tri-Counties Site On 04 MAR 2004
By Joyce M. Tice
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