ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Sunday marked the end of Maple Weekend, a celebration of New York State’s maple syrup industry.
The Genesee Country Village & Museum in Mumford marked the occasion with its Maple Sugar Festival, which included demonstrations on how indigenous Haudenosaunee communities historically made maple products.
Leon Sam Briggs, a Tonawanda Seneca member, showed guests how Haudenosaunee people tapped the trees to collect the sap, then boiled the sap down to condense its sugars. He said his ancestors used maple products for everything from preserving meat to medicine to sweetened drinks.
“It was used for curing meat and drying meat, even adding into pemmican when they dried their meat and pounded. They would add the sugar and fat in there to keep it together but to also keep the longevity,” he said.
During the demonstration, Briggs explained that collecting sap involves scarring a tree under the bark, instead of going directly into the tree and damaging it. As sap flows up the tree, it will flow down into the tap. Briggs also explained how Haudenosaunee people today continue to use maple products.
“We use it in our mush when we’re doing our sap dance or doing our ceremonies. We’ll add it to our mush to sweeten it,” he said.
The festival also included demonstrations on how settlers in the 1800s made maple products and a look at the modern-day evaporator that GCV&M uses to make its maple syrup and other products. You can read more about the festival here.
New York is the second-largest maple-producing state, making 846,000 gallons last year. More than 50 maple producers, including several in the Finger Lakes region, participated in tastings, special events, and demonstrations as part of Maple Weekend. The festivities spanned two weekends.
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