We had the great opportunity today to visit a "sugarhouse", where maple syrup is made at a family's home. We knew that there was a lot of maple syrup made, but did not realize that New York is ranked #2 in the quality of the syrup, has about 20% of the US maple syrup production. This weekend over 50 producers in western New York are holding open houses to show the public what the process is like. We were intrigued, since we knew that back in 1825 the Joseph Smith, Sr. family produced some of the best maple syrup in western New York. So, we knew that there was a long history to making the product. This week is "Maple Weekend" here in the area, you can check out the website by going to: www.mapleweekend.com
We learned that the harvest season is in February and March, this year it started on Feb. 5th (because of the mild winter and the early warm temperatures). They have to wait until the temps rise above freezing. Trees are selected and taps are drilled into the trees. One tap for trees that are at least 12 inches in diameter, and two taps for trees that are 18 inches or more. A hole is drilled that is 1/2 inch diameter and 3 inches deep. They are drilled at about 5 feet from the ground and at a 10 degree angle. A "spile" is pounded into the hole, sealing off the hole from bacterial problems. It is a plastic spigot to which a tube is attached and that tube feeds into a larger tube that runs between trees. The plastic pipe has been used since the 1950's. Gravity causes the sap to flow down the tube to a collection tank. Sometimes a vacuum pump is used to help collect the sap and make it run through the pipes better, they have been in use since the 1960's. The tank is then transported to the sugarhouse, where the processing begins. The old method was to hang buckets on the tree, just below the hole and let the sap drip.
The sweet process of turning the sap into syrup happens in a sugarhouse, which contains a lot of equipment such as a storage tank, evaporator, reverse osmosis unit, heating sources, vapor compression unit and filters. At the Schoff Sugarshack they use wood in a stove to provide the heat. It takes one cord (128 cubic feet) of wood to produce 25 gallons on syrup. Water is removed from the sap by heating and evaporation so that the sugar concentration goes from 2% to 66%. A reverse osmosis apparatus is used to facilitate that. Sap flows into a sap pan and is heated further. It then flows into a syrup pan for finishing. A hydrometer is used to measure the sugar concentration. Then it is filtered through a cloth and heated one last time to 180% to remove any bacteria. It is then graded according to the amount of light that passes through it. It is then ready to be poured into bottles. Of course we purchased a bottle, it was $11 (a gallon bottle is $63). Last year an estimated 9.2 million taps produced 2.79 million gallons of syrup.
We look forward to the local Boy Scout Maple breakfast next Saturday, where we can meet local people and eat the local syrup on our pancakes. So, are you ready to go buy some New York made maple syrup?
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