Sweet time at Sharon Audubon during MapleFest

SHARON — Visitors from Connecticut, New York City and state and Boston turned out March 17 for the annual MapleFest at Sharon Audubon. There were children, babies in their parents arms and senior citizens —proving perhaps that no one is too old or too young to love the taste of maple syrup and to be fascinated by the process of making it.Though the MapleFest was held on St. Patrick’s Day, there was no green maple syrup.There was plenty of amber-colored maple syrup for sale in the Audubon store, however. Supplies are abundant; the season started early this year and sap has continued to flow for weeks.Each year at this time, Audubon offers tours of its maple trees and the sugar shack, where the sap is boiled down over a wood fire until the water evaporates, leaving a sticky and delicious elixir.Wendy Miller, Sharon Audubon educational project manager, explained that 40 gallons of maple tree sap are needed to produce 1 gallon of maple syrup.Visitors who toured Audubon’s sugar shack where the sap is boiled down were given a taste of the fresh syrup.

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