A Class on…Maple Syrup?

Source: Unsplash

Maple syrup, a popular breakfast staple, can be found on many household shelves, and one Northwestern Environmental Policy and Culture class gives students the opportunity to tap maple trees on campus and boil it down to maple syrup. 

Taught by Eli Suzukovich, an Indigenous anthropologist and adjunct lecturer, the Maple Syrup and Climate Change course just wrapped up its seventh year this past winter. The class is offered annually in the winter quarter during the maple tapping season, when the highest rates of sap flow occur due to deep freezes.

The class tapped the trees on January 12. By then, sap had already begun flowing, a shift from previous years when sap usually accumulated the most in February. An earlier tapping season is an effect of climate change, but Suzukovich said that timing isn’t the only aspect of syrup production impacted by a changing climate.

“Also sugar levels, we really do need those deep freezes to get those sugar levels pretty high,” said Suzukovich. 

Students aren’t just learning how to tap maple trees, though; the class also dives into the interconnectedness between native cultures and maple tapping, which is a long-standing sacred seasonal practice within native communities across the Great Lakes.  

“It's the first harvest of the season, you know, and it really starts the year off,” said Suzukovich, referring to the importance of the sap harvest in native communities. “This is where setting your tapping, starting your tapping is important because when you set your taps [start drilling into the trees] is when sort of the year begins.” 

Suzukovich said he hopes to partner with native communities, such as the Potowatomi in Dowagiac, Michigan, in future years to compare sap flow and sugar levels across areas. 

Trinity Colón, a SESP second year who took the class as part of her Environmental Policy and Culture major, found the class to be rewarding because of its focus on native traditions. 

“Environmental fields are predominantly white and wealthy, so I liked that aspect of this long standing ecological practice that has been done by indigenous communities for so long,” said Colón. 

Colón also highlighted how the coursework shifted her perspective on the effects of climate change, teaching her to recognize the ways in which climate change affects not only human species but also nonhuman ones. 

“A lot of times if you look at nonhuman species for the resources, like we should care about how climate change impacts the species because of what they do for us, but I think I've really leaned into more of what they do for the environment around them and just appreciating them as beings within themselves,” said Colón.

Each student taps one tree for the duration of the quarter, checking up on it every day, so by the end of the course, they have built a relationship with the natural environment on campus. 

Weinberg third-year Roy Zhu, who also took the class last winter, said a highlight of the class was getting to participate in the creation of maple syrup, from tree to final product.

“One thing that really stuck with me was just how removed we are from food products in general,” Zhu said. “Getting the ability to be really hands-on at every part of the process…I think I just have so much more respect for maple syrup, and the people who have a relationship with maple trees.”