In the Blue Ridge Mountain region, certainly two of the counties that are most known for producing maple syrup are Highland County, Virginia and Pocahontas County, West Virginia. To participate in that traditional pastime, on a late winter Saturday last year my wife Elaine and I drove to Pocahontas to observe how Bob Sheets makes traditional welded flat pan maple syrup like was done a hundred and more years ago.
Photo Above Bob Sheets gathering sugar maple syrup.
Photo Courtesy of Bruce Ingram.
The whole experience is both wonderful and illuminating. We go with Bob to a farm where he has tapped several ancient sugar maples. There he tutors us on how to tap a tree and later gather the sap that will later become syrup. Then we return to his sugar shack where he explains that he will boil down 200 gallons of sap to obtain five gallons of syrup.
Steam and the sweet smell of syrup permeate the air as the Pocahontas County native shoves another slab of wood under the flat pan. Desiring to taste some of the finished product, we ask Bob how long it will take to produce the finished product. Fascinatingly, he explains that the maple syrup won’t be ready until Monday evening.
So we have to satisfy our cravings by venturing a few yards to the all-day breakfast that is served in the nearby shelter. The hot pancakes, doused in maple syrup, are as scrumptious as we thought they would be. For more information: https://pocahontascountywv.com/2024-maple-days/
Editor’s Note: To learn more about how maple syrup is made, check out Bruce’s March/April 2024 feature, “Old-Fashioned Maple Syrup.”
Bruce and Elaine Ingram will profile a different wild edible every month. For more information on their book Living the Locavore Lifestyle, contact them at bruceingramoutdoors@gmail.com.
