Liquid gold season

March comes in like a lion and demands pancakes. That’s just the way it is around here. Pancake breakfasts pop up everywhere this time of year – mostly as fundraisers – and they almost always feature maple syrup.

Maple sap begins flowing when nighttime temperatures dip below freezing and daytime temperatures climb above it. As long as that cycle continues, the sap runs, usually through March.

Syrup is made by collecting sap from maple trees – once by buckets, now more often by networks of lines that run downhill to a storage tank – and evaporating it with heat. Roughly 50 gallons of sap produce one gallon of maple syrup.

Here are some area pancake breakfasts and maple sugar events:

Chatham Sugarbush at Chatham Memorial Hall runs Saturdays and Sundays in March from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. The fundraiser for the Chatham Volunteer Firefighters Association features real maple syrup, local sausages, locally milled pancakes, Troyer cheeses and maple candy. Cost is $12 for adults, $11 for seniors and $8 for children under 10. It is all-you-can-eat. The hall is at 6299 Avon Lake Road.

Hale Farm and Village in Cuyahoga Valley National Park hosts its Maple Sugar Festival and Pancake Breakfast each weekend in March beginning March 7, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Visitors can see the maple sugaring process and enjoy pancakes, sausage, fruit and beverages. The meal is included with admission. More information is available at wrhs.org.

The Valley City Firefighters Association will host a pancake breakfast from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. March 8. Cost is $15 for adults, with a family maximum of $45.

The Lafayette Township Fire Station at Route 162 and Technology Lane will hold all-you-can-eat pancake breakfasts April 12, 19 and 26.

For those wanting more, the Ohio Maple Madness Tour takes place the first two weekends in March at locations across the state. The closest stop is Maple Valley Farm, 8701 Hubbard Valley Road in Seville, a sixth-generation sugarbush operation.

As always, eat fresh, dine local and be happy.