Welcome to Behind the Maker, where we dive into the stories of the incredible people behind some of the things created right here in the Pocono Mountains. PTN host Deanna Fontanez had the opportunity to chat with Cody Yedinak, the owner and maple producer at Streamside Maple in Greentown. Cody's journey into the world of maple syrup production wasn’t exactly planned. “I actually fell into it. I started a job building a maple operation for somebody, and later on, I decided I should do this for myself,” he explained. What began as a job quickly turned into a full-fledged passion. “We’ve been operating here for 5 years, and I’ve been making maple syrup for 12 years now,” he said. But it’s not all smooth sailing, Cody shared that the process depends a lot on Mother Nature, with a short, intense maple season that lasts only about six weeks.

The process of making maple syrup starts with the weather. “You need a freeze-thaw cycle to actually happen. When the sap freezes in the roots, it pressurizes the tree, and when it thaws out, it pushes that sap to the top of the canopy, giving the tree its nutrients,” Cody explained. Once the sap is ready to be collected, everything is set up for efficiency. “We use a monitoring tubing system. With 3,000 trees, that’d be a lot of buckets to collect, so everything comes right to us. The sap gathers in a tank at the bottom of the property, then pumps up to us here,” he said. The system runs on high vacuum pressure, which helps collect the sap during those freeze-thaw cycles.

From there, the process gets a bit more technical. The sap runs through a reverse osmosis machine that separates water from sugar using high-pressure pumps and massive filters. “The sugar coming in might be at about 2%, and we can jump it up to 20% without ever boiling it,” Cody explained. Once that’s done, the syrup moves into the evaporator. “That’s when the caramelization happens, and the sap becomes syrup when it hits a heat of 219 degrees,” Cody said. "It’s all about boiling it down until enough water is removed, leaving the right amount of sugar to retain the heat." And after that? Deliciousness is created.

For those who want to experience the magic of maple syrup season firsthand, Cody’s farm offers a chance to join the self-guided maple tour. "Usually the first week of March, we open up our sugar house doors and invite everyone in to see how we do it,” he said. Visitors get to tour different sugar houses in the region and see how each one has its own unique approach to syrup-making. For many, it’s the first time they’ve ever tasted real maple syrup. “A lot of people have never had real maple syrup before, and when they try it for the first time, they love it. That’s rewarding,” Cody said.

This hands-on experience allows visitors to take home local products to enjoy throughout the year while gaining an appreciation for the craft of maple syrup making. Thanks to Cody for giving us an inside look at what it takes to produce this delicious treat at Streamside Maple.  It’s a beautiful reminder of the heart and soul that goes into creating something unique right here in the Pocono Mountains.