Syrupy sap flowing at sugar bush
The maple syrup season got off to a chilly start in the Niagara region on Saturday.
Visitors huddled close to kettles hanging over an open fire keeping warm on the first day of operations at the Agape Valley sugar bush in Ridgeville.
Tim Hartwick who helps run the sugar bush, operated by the Niagara Shorthills Christian Ministries said they tapped the Pelham trees on Feb. 9 and have been making maple syrup for three weeks.
The warm weather of late, he said, hasn’t helped in the production of sap.
He said the sugar content is not very high this year and a lot of that is because of the combination of heat in the summer time and not a lot of rain. “We had half of our normal intake, whether this cold snap will reboot it, we’ll have to wait,” he said.
“We need that (the up and down of temperatures), that’s actually how the sap prolongs. It’s the cold nights and the warm days, but too warm is not good,” he said.
Hartwick said it takes about 40 pails of sap to make one pail of syrup if the sugar content is good enough.
This year the sugar level in the sap is running about 1.2 per cent; the hope is for something at about two per cent.
“You’re almost at half, you’ve got to boil that much more sap to get the same amount of syrup.
“Once it drops below one it’s almost not worth it.”
Visitors filled hay wagons Saturday for trips through the bush where guides explained the history and methods of tapping trees and making syrup.
“The ideal tree is sugar maple, and black maple is the best, but there aren’t too many of those around, it will be the highest in sugar,” said Hartwick.
“Your flavour is unique to your bush, that’s why you’ll get a different taste to the producer and the type of trees,” he said.
“The minerals of your location, what’s in your soils — your flavouring is drawn from the soil type as well as how you boil it and whether you use propane, natural gas or wood.
While Agape Valley uses a traditional hardwood fire to cook down the sap, it also uses a reverse osmosis process to initially filter the sap.
“We take 60 per cent of the water out of the sap. RO is a method of separating H2O molecules from everything else.
The sugars are then sent to an evaporator, continuing the process, he explained.
“That way we don’t have to boil all that water. It means 60 per cent less firewood, and less labour.”
The sugar bush has 1,500 to 2,000 taps and 500 trees.
Agape Valley has set up a pioneer site to show lessons learned from indigenous people. As well there is a trapper’s cabin. Visitors can buy pancakes with sausages and maple syrup at a newly renovated dining building. The sugar bush is open every Saturday in March and through the week during March break.