AUBURN - Call it a reward for enduring a cold, hard winter. Within days, maple trees will begin putting forth their sticky sap, the stuff of New York's famed maple syrup.

While Vermont is most often associated with maple syrup and does produce the most in the country, New York's 1,500 producers make more than 200,000 gallons of the sweet liquid a year, according to the New York State Maple Producers Association. That makes New York a top producer of syrup in the country, behind only Vermont and Maine.

"We are battling with Maine to be second," said Steve Childs, maple specialist for Cornell University in Ithaca.

Childs led a two-hour session, "Maple Production for the Beginner," at Cornell Cooperative Extension's Cayuga County offices on Grant Avenue Saturday that attracted about 20 people. Most had wood lots on their properties and came to learn how they might put their maple trees to use.

As winter turns to spring, New York undergoes the unique freezing and thawing cycle needed to produce sap. New York is one of a relatively small group of states that can successfully produce sap.

In Central New York, maple season begins Thursday and runs through March 10. The correct conditions occur for only 15 to 30 days each year in late winter or early spring.

Childs explained the multi-step process of turning sap into syrup. First is to identify trees that will produce the correct sap - sugar maples and black maples are the best. Next is to drill into the tree, then collect the sap into a container. Then, the sap must be filtered and boiled to a precise temperature.

"It takes a fair amount of accuracy to get the maple syrup that's correct," Childs told the group.

Maple sap has other uses than just syrup. New York also produces maple cream, maple sugar (commonly known as maple candy), granulated maple sugar, maple lollipops, maple cotton candy, maple mustard and maple jelly.

However, syrup was the choice of most of the participants on Saturday.

Many viewed the making of maple syrup as an opportunity to spend time with family.

Gail Morse and her husband, who recently bought a 50-acre plot filled with sugar maples in Niles, plan to turn it into a family hobby.

"We have always had what we call 'real' maple syrup, but we've always had to buy it," Morse said. "We usually use two gallons of syrup a year. It will be nice to be able to make those number of gallons ourselves."

Participants came from around Cayuga County, Central New York and beyond.

Bill Dunn came from Canaseraga in Allegany County, a three-hour drive from Auburn. He plans to harvest syrup with his grandchildren on his 200 acres.

"This is going to be the first time for us," he said. "We want to put our wood lot to other uses."

And on the other end, there's a sweet reward.

"Maple syrup is ideal," Dunn said. "I like it on everything."