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This Saturday, March 18, and Sunday, March 19, between the hours of 10 a.m. and 4 p.m., over a dozen local maple producers throughout Pennsylvania’s Tioga and Potter counties will open their sugar shacks to the public for an inside look at maple syrup production. Amazingly, it takes roughly 40 gallons of sap to make one gallon of maple syrup, and understanding how the process works will give those who tour a new appreciation of the liquid gold that sweetens their morning pancakes.

At Miller’s Purely Maple in the Hills Creek area of Wellsboro, Pennsylvania, Dale Miller explains the process of maple syrup production on his 570-acre farm. Sap flows through lines from trees, some of which grow almost a mile from the sugar house, into tanks that feed the evaporating and boiling facility. While automation is an essential part of producing maple products, there is also a definite hands-on element of monitoring the process, especially in the final stages of production.

Every farm on the tour is unique, from their systems to the products that they create, which may include maple syrup, maple cream, maple candy, maple crumb sugar, maple nuts and a wide variety of other products incorporating the wonderful, sweet, distinctive maple flavor. Some farms on the tour may serve pancakes, maple boiled hotdogs or other maple-inspired creations, and free samples of a wide variety of maple products are available at most sites, as well as the opportunity to purchase your favorites.

For more information, visit pamaple.com or stop in at the Mansfield or Wellsboro Chamber of Commerce.

Click here for a map of this year’s maple producers and maple tour!

Special thanks to Tim Morey and Melissa Bravo for their past involvement that made this feature possible and to Dale Miller for hosting us.