Stamford Museum Turns Syrupy Sweet

In a tiny red house perched on a hill overlooking the rest of (SM&NC), in a room that is often filled with steam and smelling like a pancake breakfast, Will Kies and Lisa Monachelli are at work making maple syrup.

Kies, a native of Cos Cob, serves as director of education at SM&NC, a role that for six weeks out of the year puts him at the helm of maple sugar operations. They produce 50-60 gallons of finished maple syrup in a good year, and have already made over 30 this season.

"When I came here eight years ago, I was a volunteer and I worked with a man who'd been at it a long time, spent the season with him," Kies told Patch. "I really enjoy the simplicity of it — it's a New England tradition."

Maple sugar season relies heavily on temperature and the past week has been the perfect time for it — below freezing at night and above freezing during the day. This requirement leaves only a short window, typically in late February and early March, when sap can be collected from the approximately 300 taps on the SM&NC's sugar maple trees.

It takes 40 buckets of maple sap to make just one bucket of maple syrup. Inside the maple sugar house, the sap is heated in the evaporator to 219 degrees, at which time, it will have the perfect water to sugar ratio for maple syrup.

During maple sugar season, many area schools will visit to see how maple syrup is made. Kristi Karamanis's second-grade class at visited the maple sugar house on Wednesday morning.

Monachelli, senior environmental educator at SM&NC, took the class up to a hill of sugar maple trees to show them how they collect the sap. The children took a look at the buckets and taps attached to the trees and also saw a network of tubes that run sap from groups of trees down to collection bins. Monachelli asked the children questions and engaged them in every step of the process.

"Can you drink an ice cube through a straw?" Monachelli asked.

The second graders replied with a resounding no.

'Neither can a tree!" Monachelli said.

Monachelli explained why temperature matters to the maple sugar process. She then invited the children to taste the sap straight from the tree and see that it tastes like slightly-sweet water.

As they made their way down the hill, they stopped to learn how American Indians would have made maple sugar using fire and hot rocks to evaporate water from the sap. 

"In their times, it was hard to measure temperature, so they made maple sugar instead of maple syrup — it was easier to take all the water out and easier to store," Monachelli said.

When the class reached the maple sugar house, Kies took over the tour and brought them inside to see the evaporator and learn about the next steps in the process.

"I've got a hole in my ceiling," Kies told the children. "It's called a cupola and let's out all the steam."

In groups of three, the children came forward to peer down into the pan of sap as the steam rose to the ceiling. They gasped when they saw the fire heating the pan and were eager to get a taste of the finished product as they left the maple sugar house.

"You don't see much of the rural lifestyle anymore," Kies said. "Our parents grew up in a very different Stamford and Greenwich. There aren't many farms left in Fairfield County."

This weekend is Maple Sugar Sunday at the SM&NC.  From 11 a.m.-3 p.m., families can enjoy demonstrations, crafts, storytelling, samples and plenty of other activities. A pancake brunch will be held from 11 a.m.-2 p.m. and a maple syrup recipe cook-off will take place.

Maple syrup will be for sale on Sunday and throughout the season at the SM&NC. Sunday's event is happening rain or shine and is $5 for members and $10 for non-members. Children three and under are admitted free.

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