March 11th – SOMERSET – Maple products have long been part of Somerset County’s culinary, cultural and economic identity.
Early residents ate, processed, and traded the sweet-tasting sap that dripped from the trees — and today, professional processors use state-of-the-art equipment to create thousands of gallons of syrup during the winter.
Past and present are celebrated again on Saturday and Sunday during the annual Somerset County Maple Taste & Tour.
More than 20 maple producers will be open across the county, selling their groceries and providing information about the syrup making process. Activities also take place at the Somerset County Historical Society, Listie Volunteer Fire Co. and Laurel Hill State Park.
“It’s a celebration thing,” said Kimberly Peck, the park’s environmental education specialist. “It’s part of our economy here. It’s something special that Somerset County is really known for.”
Kyle Hillegas, owner of Hillegas Sugar Camp in Allegheny Township, said the event usually draws multi-state visitors.
“We’re just trying to hit different areas to maybe catch people who aren’t familiar with it, to draw more people into the area,” Hillegas said. “Two years ago, when we had nice weather, we probably had almost a thousand people here.
“Last year our weather was bad. It snowed six inches on Saturday and zero on Sunday morning and we still had probably 400 people deal with crappy weather year after year. We get a lot of repeat offenders.”
Laurel Hill State Park offers outdoor tours at 10:00 am and 1:00 pm both days. Guests will learn about maple tree identification, the tapping process, and history. There will be information on how maple syrup was first used locally.
“They were very hungry Indians,” Peck said. “Not much available at this time of year. Many of the food supplies they would have were running out, as you can imagine. The February full moon is called the ‘hunger moon’ for this reason, because you are hungry. Obviously you will try things. If you see something dripping from a branch, you’ll taste it and probably realize it was cute.
The story goes on
As a child, Hillegas learned how to make maple syrup from his grandfather. Today he has tapped more than 9,000 trees and uses a piping system, vaporizer and other equipment to convert more than 200,000 gallons of liquid into approximately 3,000 gallons of maple syrup annually.
The 2023 harvest is coming to an end after having started earlier than usual in the first days of January.
“This year we made 1,400 gallons of syrup in January,” Hillegas said. “Most years we are lucky enough to be making syrup in January. If we do that, it’s a hundred gallons. It’s minimal. January was very productive for us this year.”
Hillegas then bottles the syrup. He’s also creating other maple-flavored products, including barbecue sauce, mustard, sugar, ice cream and popcorn, which will go on sale this weekend.
“Besides the maple syrup and all the other products we make, I’m here every day and I’m usually doing something — whether it’s small knick-knacks or stuff in the kitchen to make different products for stores,” Hillegas said. “I love maple. It’s something that really got me hooked. Once you get the bug, it’s like an addiction.”
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