Maple Syrup

Ohio is recognized as being the birthplace of eight U.S. presidents, the first professional baseball team, and the birthplace of the inventor of the all-American favorite, the hot dog! The state is also positioned perfectly with cold winter nights and warm spring days to produce pure maple syrup.

About six weeks after the Winter Equinox, an invisible change occurs in Ohio woodlands.  Triggered by temperatures above freezing in the daytime and below freezing again at night, Ohio maple trees, first in southern Ohio counties and later mid-state and northward, begin to circulate a natural-sucrose-laden sap throughout the trees' sapwood. Maple syrup is made from this sap. Get facts about Ohio's maple syrup production here.

Sugarbush Spring is an excellent children's picture book that tells how some maple syrup is produced today just like it was 200 years ago.  Written by Marsha Wilson Chall and illustrated by Jim Daly, it was awarded the Ohio Farm Bureau Children's Literature Award and can be ordered through county Farm Bureaus. 

Learn where Ohio maple syrup festivals are happening at OurOhio.org.