When you think of Maple syrup, you probably think of Vermont or maybe Canada. But did you know that Pennsylvania is the 6th largest producer of maple syrup? It ranks higher than several New England States!
Way up in the northern reaches of the state, the Shemanski family taps over 5,000 maple trees to produce their incredible maple syrup that you can find here in our market.
The family has generations of experience in maple syrup production – dating back over 250 years!
“Our roots in sugaring date back to the late 1700’s, when Samuel Preston made maple sugar in the Union Sugar Camp in northern Wayne County,” says Ron Shemanski. “The maple sugar was presented to President George Washington as a gift. We are direct descendants of Samuel Preston. Maple sugaring has been passed down through the generations in our family along with a wealth of knowledge and experience. We started producing maple syrup as a hobby over 20 years ago with a pile of cinder blocks and a flat pan. Today we use the latest technology and have the ability to produce hundreds of gallons of Pure Pennsylvania Maple Syrup during the short 4 to 6 week maple season, which starts in mid-February and lasts until the first week of April. With such a short window to produce our crop of Pure Pennsylvania Maple Syrup the task is truly a family effort with everyone being involved one way or another.”
Long before George Washington’s time, the indigenous people had figured out how to tap maple trees and turn the sap into syrup. We’re so glad they did and that they shared their knowledge with the settlers!
Did you know? Sap from the maple tree is clear and looks just like water! To convert maple sap into maple syrup, large amounts of water need to be removed. It takes 40 gallons of maple sap to make 1 gallon of pure maple syrup.
In order to do this, the Shemanski’s use a large reverse osmosis boiling system to boil off the water (a similar process to desalinating salt water). Then, to ensure that any bacteria is eradicated, the syrup passes through a UV treatment. Next, the concentrated syrup goes through one final evaporation stage and a filtering process before it’s ready to be packaged.
Every year, the Shemanski family packs about 1500-1750 gallons of maple syrup from this productive little plot of forest up north.
March is Maple Month, because that’s the short window of time for maple sugaring. In order to produce syrup, the trees have to be dormant with daytime temperatures above 40 and nighttime temps below freezing. So when spring begins to tease us with warmer temperatures, this hardworking family buckles down and taps the liquid gold!
In addition to maple syrup, they also carry maple candies and maple cream as well as some maple-infused treats on their website and in their sugar shack. Their maple candy won first place at the PA Farm Show! Browse our farm market to find their maple syrup next time you shop!
In the meantime, enjoy some of our favorite maple recipes from our blog!
Maple Butter on Toast
Kaiserschmarren with Maple Syrup
Maple Nectarine Iced Tea
