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Sap & Syrup
Test strips for buddy sap being developed
B.W. (Bev) Campbell, OMSPA | June 11, 2024
OTTAWA, Ont.??????Buddy Sap is a mystery to many maple producers.
You can?????t see it, and you often can?????t smell or taste it at the sap stage.
Only after investing considerable effort and energy into boiling it down to syrup does the off flavor become apparent. Sometimes it takes on a burnt ????Tootsie Roll????? flavor.
Now an Ontario research team from Carlton University in Ottawa is developing a test strip to detect buddy sap.
Shahad Abdulmawjood, a Carlton University PhD candidate in chemistry, working with more than a dozen Ontario maple producers, conducted a trial this season of the first prototype buddy sap test kit.
The test uses a solution and a test strip.
[ MORE ]
Sugarmakers encouraged to check hydrometers this season
Peter Gregg | February 21, 2024
MORRISVILLE, Vt.—Check your hydrometers!
Sugarmakers are encouraged to check hydrometers or make sure new hydrometers have been certified by the Vermont Department of Agriculture.
A recent survey by the University of Vermont Extension Service found that many syrups bought online were out of density compliance.
Extension agents bought online a total of 166 samples in 2021 and 182 samples in 2023.
Nearly 1 in 4 containers (22%) failed to meet the minimum density standard (66.9 ⁰Brix) for pure maple syrup, UVM reported.
Many state maple associations or departments of agriculture offer hydrometer testing.
At a clinic in Connecticut last month, 5 hydrometers failedout of approximately 25 tested.
[ MORE ]
Strategic reserve nearing empty in Quebec
Peter Gregg | November 14, 2023
LONGUEUIL, Que.—The Global Strategic Reserve of maple syrup in Quebec is down to less than 15 million pounds, officials said.
Of that, all of the remaining syrup is organic.
The drainage of the reserve comes after one of the shortest crops in Quebec in recent history, combined with reportedly all-time high demand for syrup across the globe and in the U.S. in particular.
Quebec’s maple harvest totaled 124 million pounds this season, the smallest crop in five years, off dramatically from 211 million pounds in 2022.
Still, officials for the Quebec maple federation did not seem concerned.
“We are confident of being able to replenish it following the emissions of 7 million taps in 2021 and 2023,” said Joël Vaudeville, spokesman for the federation.
The federation increased its government-sanctioned tap quota to accommodate a massive increase in syrup demand during the pandemic. [ MORE ]
Survey reveals sap selling potential
Dana Ruppert | October 17, 2023
BRATTLEBORO, Vt.—There are opportunities in sap selling.
In a recent survery in Vermont, a majority of respondents reported they could accept additional sap in their facility without having to make changes to current systems.
As part of the Sap Business Promotion project, the University of Vermont Extension surveyed maple producers in the Northeast to explore the prevalence and possibility of sap selling and buying in the maple sector.
Surveys were completed by 128 producers across several states.
The majority of maple producers in this survey were producing their own sap and processing it into syrup, and 63% of participants were not participating in any sap buying or selling.
[ MORE ]
Sugarmakers encouraged to stay vigilant on proper hydrometers
Peter Gregg | March 2, 2023
CONWAY, Mass.—Keep an eye on those hydrometers.
Maple experts and government officials are encouraging sugarmakers to keep a keen eye on the hydrometer, making sure that proper density syrup is being made.
“Be careful, they break,” said Howard Boyden, of Boyden Bros. Sugar House in Conway, Mass. during a boil last week. Boyden said he dropped one hydrometer too hard in the testing cup and broke the end off, allowing for syrup to fill up the bulb.
“Make sure you always have a spare on hand,” he said with a laugh. [ MORE ]
Many syrup hydrometers out of whack, officials say
Peter Gregg | January 3, 2023
RANDOLPH, Vt.—Producers and state officials are checking syrup hydrometers and finding they’re off.
At the state laboratory in Randolph, Vt., weights and measures officials for the Vermont agriculture department so far this year tossed out 6.6 percent of the 11,4126 hydrometers checked. A total of 749 hydrometers were rejected for sale.
“The failure rate has doubled since 2019,” said Marc Paquette, chief metrologist for the Vermont agriculture agency, who oversees the lab testing.
Vermont is the only state in the nation that offers official testing of hydrometers, and all of the big equipment manufacturers send huge batches of hydrometers to be tested there before they are sold back to sugarmakers.
Before the year is over, Paquette and his team in the official Hydrometer Volumetric Room at the state office campus in Randolph are expected to test and verify upwards of 15,000 hydrometers, a record.
Hydrometer checking was also a highlight at the Indiana Maple Syrup Association annual meeting in Greencastle, Ind. last month.
There, Mary Fogle Douglass of Sugar Bush Supplies brought in an official hydrometer testing kit where a weighted test hydrometer is floated in a solution of potassium iodide and compared against the sugarmaker’s hydrometer. [ MORE ]
Summer sales mixed in New England
Peter Gregg | August 1, 2022
LEBANBON, N.H.—Sugarmakers in New England are reporting mixed results on the pace of summer sales.
In light of sky high gas prices and record inflation, many sugarmakers have concerns over how shrinking discretionary income of consumers will eat into syrup sales.
Charlie Hunt, a sugarmakers from Hillsborough, N.H. said sales at his syrup stand were brisk.
“We’re ahead of last year,” Hunt said during the annual summer meeting of the New Hampshire Maple Producers Association on Saturday at Patch Orchards in Lebanon, N.H.
Alisha Powell of Stuart & John’s Sugarhouse in Westmoreland, N.H. said sales at her farm were going well this summer too.
“We’ve had a lot of wedding orders,” she said.
[ MORE ]
New maple product could revolutionize industry
Paul Post | May 10, 2022
SAINT-LAZARE, Que.—CDL is planning a 2023 launch of a new product it says will revolutionize the industry.
CDL has spent the past three sugaring seasons developing and testing a liquid sweetener called Nectar, which has the consistent flavor, color and stable storage qualities food companies are looking for.
Nectar is a high brix (60-70 percent) concentrate that includes all nutrients originally included in raw sap coming from the tree.
It is a natural sweetener with healthy benefits that could be used in many different foods and beverages, creating new opportunities for maple market development.
"CDL's goal behind this project is to allow the overall maple industry to gain worldwide market shares into liquid sweeteners," said Maryse Bernier, company marketing director.
"We want to bring this technology on the market in the near future so it can benefit all existing and future maple producers and buyers looking for innovative maple products. We will make it available to any companies that may be interested in the product and technology," she said.
[ MORE ]
Making good flavor, tips and tactics on getting the best taste
Paul Post | May 7, 2021
SAINTE-MARIE, Que.—It’s all about the flavor.
Joel Boutin, of Quebec, makes thousands of syrup taste samplings each year including many for a large private maple producers club, which he serves as an extension educator and advisor.
A keen observer in all aspects of maple production, he also teaches high school students at a technical school in his area.
But Boutin's greatest area of expertise is "Good Flavor Factors," which was the topic of his presentation during Vermont Maple Conference Week.
Depending on a variety of practices, producers can try to achieve a delicate sweet, vanilla-type taste or the more complex maple flavor that tends to become more caramel-like as the season progresses. [ MORE ]
Vermont producers sitting on barrels
Peter Gregg | April 20, 2021
HIGHGATE, Vt.—A loose coalition of farmers in Franklin County, Vt. are sitting on an estimated 5,000 barrels of new crop syrup until they get what they feel is a fair price to sell it.
“Every producer I talk to says they’re holding their syrup,” said Jason Gagne of Gagne Family Maple in Highgate, Vt. who boils off 32,000 taps. “Nobody wants to let it go because they don’t like the price yet.”
Gagne stopped short of calling it a syrup strike and said there is no organized effort to keep the syrup off the market.
But he said producers in his county, as well as in Addison and Lamoille counties in Northern Vermont are frustrated with prices offered by packers.
“They know we’re not happy,” Gagne said. “Nobody is shipping syrup because we’re not happy.” [ MORE ]
Keep an eye on the cake! Filtering tips from the experts
Peter A Gregg | March 26, 2021
ANTIGO, Wisc.—Keep an eye on the cake.
That was the message from filtering expert Jim Adamski of Adamski’s Sugar Bush of Antigo, Wisc. during a webinar on filtering techniques hosted by the Wisconsin Maple Syrup Producers Association in January.
“If you are using too much DE the cake will be solid as a rock,” Adamski said. “You will barely be able to push it out of the plate. If it’s hard like a stone and crumbles and breaks apart, you can tell you are using too much DE powder.”
Diatomaceous earth is the common filter aid sugarmakers use to help pass the syrup through the filter sheets and take out the gunk and sand.
Too little or too much can be perplexing for the sugarmaker.
The best way to tell if you got it right is when you break down the press, a nice beige colored cake is formed between the plates.
“If we’re not seeing a nice solid cake then we didn’t use enough DE powder in the process,” Adamski said. [ MORE ]
OPINION: Producers should demand a better price this season
Phillip Gudgeon | February 23, 2021
WESTBY, Wisc.—It’s a sellers market.Don’t squander this opportunity!
Last season we produced the biggest global syrup crop in history. Now that crop is almost sold out.
It seems the pandemic has been very good for maple consumption.
This has created a need for a good to above average crop in 2021 to satisfy demand. If we have a poor crop, “Katy bar the door!”
Let’s talk about price. [ MORE ]
New CDL Sap Silos at Patterson Farms
Rachel Courtney | February 23, 2021
SABINSVILLE, Pa.—Big improvements at Pennsylvania's biggest sugarbush with new CDL sap silos.
Terri & Terry Patterson took over ownership as the 4th generation sugar makers of Patterson Farms in Sabinsville, Pa. after Terry’s father, Richard, passed away in 2017.
Richard would be proud to see them keeping his legacy alive by accomplishing plans he had for the farm before he passed, as well as bringing some of their own ideas to the business.
Patterson Farms is the largest producer in Pennsylvania with more than 80,000 taps.
As an effort to maximize efficiency they recently purchased three 12’x20’ CDL Stainless Steel Sap Silos.
[ MORE ]
Showing some love for the sap-only producer
Peter Gregg | January 19, 2021
WESTON, Vt.—There’s money to be made in selling sap and leaving the syrup making to someone else.
“There is opportunity in sap-only enterprises,” said Chris Lindgren of UVM Extension who led an online seminar last month on the pluses and minuses of collecting the sap and letting someone else boil it.
“Sap-only businesses are less risky and there are less barriers to entry,” he said. “Selling sap is the easiest and lowest cost way to get started in the maple business.”
Lindgren is a sap collector himself, with approximately 700 taps spread out across three bushes in Weston, Vt. in the center of the state.
He said producers looking to get into the sap selling game should budget an investment of approximately $30 per tap, which will cover costs of a collection system, vacuum pumps, a generator or two, monitoring systems, transportation, reverse osmosis and structures.
[ MORE ]
Sugarmaker tip: Best organic defoamer
Peter Gregg | January 7, 2021
ISLAND POND, Vt.—Try beeswax.
Probably the biggest change a sugarmaker will have to make once they switch to organic is defoamer use.
Conventional defoamers do not qualify so the producer must find an all-natural replacement that both knocks down the foam and also does not affect taste.
Many sugarmakers use sunflower oil or other oils similar.
Sugarmaker Joe Russo who manages the massive 470,000-tap Sweet Tree Inc. operation in Island Pond, Vt. uses beeswax.
“It’s fantastic,” Russo told The Maple News.
[ MORE ]
Coated jugs make a difference in keeping grade
T.D. Perkins, W. Bosley, G. Bosley, and M. Moore | April 6, 2020
Canadian researchers study the buddy
| December 4, 2019
LONDON, Ont.—The Ontario Maple Syrup Producers Association is sponsoring a study on eliminating buddy syrup.
“There is a reason why this essential work has never been done before,” explains Bob Gray of OMSPA. “It is very difficult to do, requires state-of-the-art equipment and some very smart chemists to tease out the answers.”
Gray is owner and operator of Kemble Mountain Maple Products, a small family maple business in southern Ontario. He has served as Research Committee Chair for the OMSPA for nearly a decade.
Gray rallied interest among the OMSPA’s 500+ small maple business owners to support the three-part buddy study, all under the guidance of Dr. David Miller, a world-renowned chemist at Carleton University.
“The intent of this study was to see if it was possible to identify a chemical precursor to maple sap becoming buddy,” says Dr. Miller.
It’s all about microclimate. [ MORE ]
Lapierre touts its new spout
Peter Gregg | April 15, 2019
SWANTON, Vt.—Lapierre is promoting a new spout, designed with Vermont sugarmaker David Folino, that features a straight insert with minimal taper to have more contact surface to the tap hole.
The spouts are made of a polycarbonate see-through material and have depth lines in order to see how deep it is. This allows for tapping crews to more accurately set a tapping depth consistently.
The spouts also have a short joint for an easier “slide-in” of the drop line. [ MORE ]
How to identify maple syrup off-flavors
Henry Marckres, Vt. Agy. of Ag. (retired) | April 15, 2019
Maple syrup has a unique flavor that sets it apart from other specialty foods.
Its characteristic for exhibiting different subtle flavors depending on when it was produced, where it was produced, and, at times, how it was produced make it a product that everyone, regardless of their taste preferences, can enjoy.
However, this characteristic also makes syrup flavor susceptible to flavors that are not considered typical.
These off-flavors can occur anywhere from the tree to the containers. Not only do production methods affect the flavor, but Mother Nature has a hand in it too. Following are some common off-flavors that have been encountered, their likely causes, and ways to avoid these problems. [ MORE ]
Ewww. Make the ropy syrup go away
Peter Gregg | April 15, 2019
CONCORD, N.H.—One of the dreaded phenomenon in sugaring is ropy syrup and researchers have tips on how to beat it.
“It’s a problem that once you’ve known, you don’t want to know again,” said Martin Pelletier, a researcher with Centre Acer in St-Norbert d’Arthabaska, Que.
Pelletier gave a compelling presentation on the topic at the North American Maple Syrup Council’s annual meeting in Concord, N.H. in Oct.
Experts classify ropy syrup as a “texture defect” consisting of a string that extends 4 inches or more in the syrup.
It’s a nightmare in the sugarhouse, making syrup unsellable. It can create overflows in the pan and is impossible to filter.
[ MORE ]
Quebec warehouses still flush with excess syrup
Peter Gregg | January 8, 2019
LONGUEUIL, Que.—Quebec reserve warehouses are still full, despite a crop that was 30 percent off, with only the far eastern edges of the province suffering big losses.
“Our crop was not disastrous,” said Simon Trépanier, executive director of the Federation of Quebec Maple Syrup Producers (FPAQ).
The federation went into last season with approximately 96 million pounds of syrup in what is known as the strategic reserve, which is a group of warehouses filled with barrels.
This year, as of late fall the reserve still held 95 million pounds, Trepanier said. Eighty million pounds of those holdings are table grade syrup. Only 20 to 22 million pounds are estimated to be industrial syrup. [ MORE ]
Bulk market flat this summer
Peter Gregg | November 21, 2018
ALSTEAD, N.H.—The bulk market is holding its own this fall, with little changed from the spring other than there is more syrup out there than predicted.
“I think the crop is at least as big as last year’s,” said Bruce Bascom of Bascom Maple Farms, one of the biggest on-site bulk buyers in the Northeast.
Bascom said syrup coming out of the field has continued to show up at his warehouse door throughout the summer and early fall.
“We’ve been getting five pick-up loads per day five days per week,” Bascom said last month.
The general bulk price has remained unchanged since the spring. [ MORE ]
Tips from an expert: Selling on Amazon
Paul Post, Peter Gregg | October 9, 2018
PUTNEY, Vt.—Peter Cooper-Ellis spent more than three decades in the Silicon Valley, where he worked at four different successful software start-up companies.
But the Brattleboro, Vt. native never lost his love for Mother Nature's sweetest natural product. His family has been in the maple business for more than a half century.
So he combined his passion for the industry and technology to start Putney, Vt.-based Hidden Springs Maple. At first, he ran the company remotely, with help from family members, while still living in California, before coming home to the Green Mountain State two-and-a-half years ago.
Cooper-Ellis explained how his firm has grown and how sugar makers can expand their own sales, in the workshop, Strategies for Online Marketing of Maple Products at the 2018 Vermont Maple Conference & Tradeshow last winter.
"What we're selling here is an experience of Vermont," he said. "We have a huge value in the brand of Vermont. We try to leverage that. Many customers have been to Vermont and they want to stay in touch with it."
What better way than with an online purchase of maple product?
"Our mission is to use the power of the Internet to sell maple," he said. "That's what we've been doing." [ MORE ]
Canada slaps a 10 percent tariff on U.S. syrup
Peter Gregg | July 2, 2018
OTTAWA, Ont.—Canada’s prime minister Justin Trudeau imposed a retaliatory ten percent tariff on maple sugar and maple syrup this week, one of hundreds of items targeted in a mounting trade war.
“These countermeasures will take effect on July 1, 2018 and will remain in place until the U.S. eliminates trade-restrictive measures against Canadian steel and aluminum products,” Trudeau’s government said in a statement Sunday.
The U.S. exports approximately $12 million in maple products to the country, according to government statistics. Most of that syrup originates in Maine. [ MORE ]
Syrup demand continues at an all-time high
Peter Gregg | Feb. 23, 2018
MIDDLEBURY, Vt.—As sugarmakers go into another season, bulk prices are holding low. But demand for syrup is at an all time high.
“Demand is very good and we’re very bullish on the future,” said John Kingston, chief executive officer of Butternut Mountain Farms in Morrisville, Vt., one of the biggest bulk syrup buyers in the U.S.
[ MORE ]
Colleges tap into maple education
Mike Rechlin | Oct. 11, 2017
The maple syrup industry has always had important links to Colleges and Universities. As an industry that continues to go through rapid changes in technology, we rely heavily on university research to drive innovation and change. [ MORE ]
When buying sap, many factors can affect price
Michael Farrell | July 8, 2017
Many sugarmakers buy sap as a means of augmenting their own syrup production and getting better utilization of the equipment in their sugarhouse.
There are many factors that can and should affect the prices a sugarmaker is willing to pay for sap. These include sap sugar concentration, bulk syrup prices, sap quality, and how syrup production or revenues will be divided. [ MORE ]
U.S. sets modern day record in maple production
Peter Gregg | June 9
Sugarmakers in the U.S. had another monster year with more than 4.2 million gallons produced this spring, breaking yet another record, according to statistics complied by the National Agricultural Statistics Service, a branch of the USDA.
In all, the United States production was 4,271,000 gallons of syrup made, beating last year’s total of 4,207,000 and setting yet another modern day record. [ MORE ]
Season rocking for some, others praying for a reset
Peter Gregg | March 4, 2017
Sugarmakers were hoping for a reset this weekend, as temperatures are expected to drop well below zero and hopefully stalling swelling trees.
“The buds are fat in my warmer woods,” said Richard Brodmerkle, a sugarmaker in Oakham, Mass. who has been boiling since mid-January on his 1,250 taps. [ MORE ]
Ohio sugarmaker ‘all in’ on bourbon syrup
Peter Gregg | January 2016
Nate Bissell is quickly becoming the industry’s number one syrup ruiner.
That’s the tongue in cheek way he describes his fledgling operation where he takes good syrup and pours it into old bourbon barrels and lets it sit for nine months.
The result? A smooth, extremely flavorful syrup that tastes almost exactly like bourbon and fetches an incredible price in urban markets. Two bucks an ounce, in some cases. [ MORE ]
Filtering and D.E. changes make for easier canning
Peter Gregg | January 2017
A couple years ago, sugarmaker Rick Newman was sitting around a table with a group of other sugarmakers who serve on the Cornell Maple Advisory Committee, and he surmised that filtering was becoming more of a problem at his sugarhouse and that maybe it was an issue worth exploring.
He got an unanimous consent. [ MORE ]
Capping the sap, plantation sugaring in Vermont
Peter Gregg | December 2016
Some people are calling it Frankenmaple.
The new plantation style sugaring system developed by the University of Vermont Proctor Maple Research Center has had the industry abuzz since it was first unveiled three years ago.
[ MORE ]
EcoVap electric evaporator catching on
Peter Gregg |
Dominion & Grimm's new evaporator technology, the EcoVap, makes making syrup as easy as turning on the dishwasher at night before you go to bed.
It runs on electricity. That’s right, electricity. [ MORE ]
Expect significantly lower bulk syrup prices in 2016
Michael Farrell |
Bulk syrup prices are expected to be significantly lower when you go to sell your crop this spring, and it has absolutely nothing to do with how much syrup is made. With most agricultural products, prices are usually correlated with the size of the harvest. If there is a shortage, prices will rise and if there is a surplus, then prices will likely fall.
[ MORE ]
Sugarmakers boil 41% sap
Peter Gregg | May 2015
The maple industry may be one step closer to making syrup without boiling sap. [ MORE ]
'Autumn Blend'
Peter Gregg |
Some call it defying Mother Nature, others would call it taking advantage of her, but the fall tappers are at it again.
"I only planned on having enough sap to boil on the stove," said Cody Armstrong, one of the few brave souls who tapped trees this fall. "I thought it would be cool." [ MORE ]
Logs to lumber
By Peter Smallidge, Cornell University | Nov. 2015
A common feature of managed woods, and an aspect that has made them popular among farmers, woodlot owners and maple producers is the potential to harvest logs and produce boards. [ MORE ]
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