How to tap into maple syrup that’s environmentally friendly

Our operation is a study in recycling. We use recycled food-grade 16-litre plastic containers connected to the trees with the same spiles and tubes that the pipeline producers use. For collection and storage, we use drums and tanks that came from Hersheys (the now-closed chocolate factory that was once based in Smiths Falls).

The main boiling pan was made from stainless steel that came from a restaurant makeover. To heat the main boiling pan, we use waste wood products from sawmills and other scrub wood that we pick up in the bush.

Because we are a small operation, we finish the syrup in an adjacent room where we can carefully monitor the density.

We do use propane in the finishing process, but the burner is a recycled cooktop from a kitchen renovation.

Once the syrup is filtered, it is reheated and canned in mason jars. The jars themselves have been used many times before, but we do use new lids.

After the syrup has been canned, it can be stored for years. We make syrup only every four or five years. I just opened a jar that we made in 2011 and had stored in the basement. The taste was as fresh and sweet today as it was in 2011.

Our operation consists of two buildings and has been dubbed the Grant Settlement. One building contains the main boiling room, a wood storage area and the finishing room. The other building is a cabin. Both buildings are made with mostly recycled building materials, collected over the years from renovations and auction sales. When family and friends visit, we like to point out that “those windows came from your house,” or “those rafters used to be in your old deck.”

A unique example of recycling is in the original roof of the boiling room. It was built in 1976, from an old stack of leaky sap buckets that had belonged to a neighbour and fellow maple syrup producer. I cut out the bottoms, slit the sides, flattened them out and used them to shingle the roof.

We will continue in this vein, keeping our maple syrup operation as environmentally friendly as we can.