It’s Tree Tapping Time At The Shawnee Inn

Article and Video by WBRE’s PA HOMEPAGE

Shawnee-on-Delaware, Monroe County – Shawnee Inn and Golf Resort Ground Supervisor Matthew Siptroth is tapping trees a few weeks later than usual this year. He explained, “It’s been so cold that the trees just haven’t been flowing until just this past few days.”

For sap to flow, the temperature has to be below freezing at night and above freezing during the day. “The trees are gearing up to push the sugars in the root system into the buds so they can open for the spring and leaf out and start making food for themselves again for next year,” said Siptroth.

He is collecting sap from 35 trees. The Shawnee kitchen staff boiled the sap into syrup that you can have on your pancakes inside the hotel. “It’s quite an extensive boiling process. It’s about 40 gallons of sap to one gallon of syrup,” said Siptroth.

People say they enjoy the real maple flavor. Spokesman Jeromy Wo smiled, “I love it. It’s totally different. You don’t have that kind of artificial taste that may seem natural but it’s just a totally different experience knowing that it’s from right here.”

The syrup will be available for public sale at the Shawnee Farmers Market this summer. It usually sells out within two weeks.

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