The Sweetness We Earn: Discovering Oregon's Bigleaf Maple Syrup
An old story from the Wabanaki peoples of the East Coast tells of a time when maple trees ran with pure syrup. No tapping, no boiling. Just break a twig, and the sweetness poured right out.
But because the sweetness came so easily, the people began neglecting their work and forgetting their gratitude for the gifts around them.
Glooskap, a powerful cultural hero in Wabanaki tradition, saw what was happening and filled the maple trees with water, leaving only enough sweetness to reward those willing to gather the sap and boil it down.
Since then, we have had to work for the goodness we want.
I grew up on the East Coast, where sugar maples line the roads and maple syrup is a sure sign of spring. Now my children are growing up on the West Coast, where the syrup on our table most likely comes from Canada or the East Coast. It is still delicious, but something has been lost: the connection to our own land and the knowledge that this sweetness came from trees growing in our community.
Little did I know that was about to change.
One glorious day, I saw a massive tree with leaves bigger than my hand. What is this tree? I took out my not-very-reliable nature app and discovered that it was a Bigleaf maple.
This was no East Coast sugar maple. This was a tree born and bred for the West Coast. Naturally, my next thought was, Does anyone tap these trees for Bigleaf maple syrup in Oregon?
I took my question to our local OSU Extension office, and guess what? Yes! Not only are people tapping these trees, but Oregon State University is supporting an ongoing effort to study Bigleaf maple sugaring and explore whether it can become a sustainable Oregon industry.
We wanted to learn more. And by “we,” I mean that I wanted to learn more, so I signed my family up for Bigleaf Maple Camp with the Oregon Maple Project. We spent a day learning about Bigleaf maple trees, how to identify them, and how maple sugaring works. Then we got to tap a Bigleaf maple ourselves!
Bigleaf maple fun fact:
Bigleaf maple’s spring flowers are edible and taste a little like broccoli.
Identification fun fact:
One clue that you may have found a Bigleaf maple is the licorice fern growing along its moss-covered trunk and branches, as though the tree has grown its own little fern garden.
Tapping fun fact:
Tapping a Bigleaf maple requires patience. The sap may refuse to flow one day, then begin running after a freezing night followed by a warmer day. The tree keeps its own schedule!
Interested in attending a future Family Maple Camp? Visit the Oregon Maple Project to learn about upcoming camps and events.
Once we finished tapping our tree, one of the guides inspected our work. We were kindly congratulated for choosing a good tree, tapping in the right spot, and following the instructions. Sadly, no sap came that day, but our tap remained, and our tree became part of the Oregon Maple Project.
Afterward, we moved to an outdoor classroom, where we spent the rest of the day absorbing as much as our excited minds could take in. Best of all, we left with a bottle of Bigleaf maple syrup of our very own.
If you haven’t tried Bigleaf maple syrup, you are in for quite a surprise. Its flavor is different from the light, familiar sweetness of the maple syrup I grew up with. To me, it tastes deeper and earthier, with an almost molasses-like richness. Personally, I find it perfectly suited to the coastline I now call home. It is unexpected, distinctly Western, and takes an extraordinary amount of work to gather and prepare. It is, quite literally, sweetness earned.
Soapmaking is a way to share my passions and my understanding of the world. When I use something in my everyday life that was made by hand and carries pieces of the land and community around me, I feel more grounded and connected to something larger than myself.
This is what I hope you experience when you use this soap.
You are washing with something made by hand, as soap has been made for thousands of years, using recognizable ingredients and carrying a connection to the place that inspired it.
Perhaps it will also remind you to notice the trees, stories, and hard-earned sweetness within your own community.
Last but certainly not least, we brought this story into the soap itself. Our Big Leaf Maple bar is made with saponified oils of olive, rice bran, coconut, beef tallow, shea butter, and castor, along with distilled water, milk, locally grown pumpkin, Bigleaf maple syrup from CONDEA’s Farm in Clatskanie, Oregon, pumpkin pie spice, sea salt, and orange 5x and clove essential oils.
Below, you’ll find links to learn more about Bigleaf maple sugaring and to purchase a bottle from CONDEA’s Farm so you can experience this distinctly Oregon sweetness for yourself.
Learn about Bigleaf maple sugaring through the Oregon Maple Project:
Learn about OSU’s Oregon Tree Tappers program:
Purchase Bigleaf maple syrup from CONDEA’s Farm:
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