Maple Sugar Producers Enjoy their Sweetest Season in a Long Time

LAKE PLACID, N.Y. --- This spring’s frosty nights and warm sunny days made for one of the best maple sugaring seasons in recent memory. A typical sugaring season usually runs from late-February through early-April, but this season the sap continues to flow.

“I think that everyone has made the most out of the weather conditions,” said Mike Farrell, director of Cornell University’s Uihlein Forest, located in Lake Placid, N.Y. “This year we’ve had optimal temperatures. Usually, there’s a cold snap in mid-March, but this year it didn’t happen so most, if not all, of the producers made syrup everyday.”

Farrell has been trying to keep up with the sticky flow, collecting sap during the day and boiling it at night. During the night, the cooler temperatures allow suction to develop, which draws water into the tree. Once the warmer temperatures develop during the day, pressure develops in the tree, causing sap to flow. Since it takes about 40 gallons of sap to make a single gallon of syrup, the Cornell Sugar House collected more than 70,000 gallons of sap and produced a record 1,500 gallons of maple syrup.

“We had a pretty even mix for all grades of syrup,” added Farrell. “The weather dictates what type of grade we’re able to produce, for example when temperatures are in the higher 50’s we produce a darker grade syrup, but this year we produced just as much lighter grade syrup as we did the darker grade.”

Farrell tapped his first of 5,000 trees on Feb. 20 and is now beginning the process of cleaning up and boiling his last batch in an evaporator that can hold up to 40 gallons of syrup. The sugaring season ends once the temperatures stop fluctuating between freezing at night and thawing during the day and the first stage of buds develop on trees, the sap stops flowing.

It’s believed that tapping maple sugar trees began mistakenly when a Native American chief, struck a tree while practicing tomahawk throwing. The industry has come a long way since then. Statewide, there are more than 1,500 maple producers, who generate more than $8-million in sales. New York State is the third largest maple producing state, behind only Vermont and Maine, and is ranked second in value, behind only Vermont.

More than 150 of the state’s maple producers are expected to come to Lake Placid Sept. 27-29 to participate in the New York State 2009 Maple Tour. “The group meets in different places every year and it’s a great chance for producers to tour different sugar houses and learn from each other and research different technologies,” stated Farrell.

On Saturday, April 25, the Adirondack History Center Museum, in Elizabethtown, N.Y., will celebrate the season with a maple sugar festival. The 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. event will feature a pancake breakfast feast, pancake eating contest, dessert contest, beard contest, exhibition, and the opportunity to meet local maple sugar producers. Admission is $6.00 for adults, $5.00 for seniors and youth six to 12, while children under the age of six will be admitted for just $1.00.

On Sunday, the Shipman Youth Center, in Lake Placid, will host an all-you-can-eat pancake breakfast, from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. This year, the youth tapped 43 trees in and around Lake Placid and collected almost 900 gallons of sap, which they boiled and turned into 20 gallons maple syrup at the Uihlein Forest. All proceeds benefit the Shipman Youth Center.