How to Make Maple Oatmeal Cookies

A Trip to the Sugar Woods!

Sugar Maple sap starting to run is the first glimpse of Spring in Nova Scotia. Most of us think of birds chirping, crocuses and tulips pushing their little green sprouts up through the soil and warmer days mean Spring is finally here, but as Quita (one of the owners of Sugar Moon Farm in Earltown, NS) assures us, Spring has started long before we see those signs.

On our recent trip to the Sugar Moon Farm we learned that sap actually starts to run around Valentine’s Day and continues until the maple trees begin to bud (usually mid-April). We also found out that the short six weeks, or so, of maple syrup production is very busy!

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Maple Sugar Camp Tour

On the weekend we were lucky enough to be able to secure a spot on a tour of the sugar camp and learned a lot about maple syrup production in Nova Scotia and across the continent. Did you know Quebec is the largest producer of Maple Syrup in North America and supplies about 3/4 of the world’s inventory? As a matter of fact, the top three world producers of Maple syrup are Quebec, Ontario and New Brunswick and although a smaller producer, Nova Scotia does it’s share!

On our tour we did not go out into the sugar woods – unfortunately Sugar Moon is still cleaning up after Hurricane Fiona and still have a lot of repairs to make. Don’t worry, they still have fresh maple syrup available for purchase. There are others in the area whose tapped trees contribute to the Sugar Moon brand and together, they; thankfully were able to provide enough sap for this years run.

If you are unable to get to Sugar Moon you can sample some other Canadian Maple products here:

and many more – through this link

and American Maple Products below and through this link

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Maple Sugar Woods carving — One of many beautiful sugar wood carvings at Sugar Moon Farm

Maple Sap Collection Tanks — Sap collection tanks

The Magic

During our tour we did see the sugaring room and an example of how the trees are tapped and the sap collected. Sugar Moon is situated in the Cobequid Hills allowing all of the sap from their tapped trees to be transported to their holding tanks by gravity.

Once collected the fun begins:

the sap is boiled to 7 degrees above the boiling point of water. Did you know that the boiling point of water changes depending on the atmospheric pressure? Each boiling day the boiling point of water must be determined and 7 points added to it to make the perfect syrup!
the syrup is tested for temperature, consistency and taste and then hot bottled in the sugaring room.
It takes a lot of wood to keep the fire burning and the room gets very hot.

Boiler — Holding Tank where the perfectly heated syrup is collected

Maple Syrup Colours

Throughout the sugar season the sap changes and affects the colour and flavour of the maple syrup produced. Early sap, from the beginning of the season, produces a lighter coloured and flavoured syrup while sap from close to the end of the season produces a darker, more robust tasting syrup. All are good, the favourite depends on individual palates. Most, maple syrup sold commercially is a mixture of batches throughout the entire season.

Fun Maple Facts:

It takes 40 cups of sap to create one cup of maple syrup – wow!
To ensure you are buying pure maple syrup, look on the packaging. There will be NO ingredient list as nothing else is added to Maple Syrup!
The ‘sugar moon’, occurring in March-April is one of the thirteen moons in the indigenous calendar. It signifies the end of winter and the beginning of spring.
Sugar Maples are only found in Eastern Canada and The Eastern United States.

great plain, with raisins or chocolate chips!!!