El Nino can’t stop the sap from running

Jeff Green | Mar 31, 2016

When there was little or no frost in the ground and maple syrup weather in January, it was hard to tell what was going to happen when the real season would arrive in early March. But since there was plenty of water last summer and fall, and the frost set in during February, even a frost free week in early March did not seem to deter the trees from producing sap over the past three weeks.

Gary Gorr, who runs a syrup operation near Harrowsmith, reported this week that he expects to equal or better his production from last year, which was a very good run.

“I have had some darker sap, making for more amber syrup this year,” Gorr said “but the flavour is very good. The quantity is excellent. I think the season could end within a week or so, unless we get some cold weather.”

On Tuesday of this week, Gorr had enough sap in this holding tank to boil all day and beyond.

“I’m expecting a short sleep tonight,” he said.

Further north, the sap has been clearer and the syrup lighter, and reports are that the quantity is high again this year, perhaps higher than last year as well.

“We made syrup for 11 days straight from March 9 all the way to the 20th,” said Darlene Conboy of Bell Line Road, north of Sharbot Lake. “And the sap is running again, maybe even faster than we can boil it into syrup in a day.”

Syrup producers are getting used to a new grading system that will be fully in place next year. The old system, which includes extra light, light, medium, amber, and dark is being replaced by a less refined, international system; golden, amber, dark, very dark.

The new system is coming in so Ontario syrup is graded the same way that syrup from Quebec and Vermont are, and partly as a reflection of market forces. Whereas ten years ago, producers and syrup lovers alike prized subtle extra light syrup, consumers now more commonly seek after stronger flavoured amber syrup.

What used to called Extra Light will now be called Golden, and the old light and medium are lumped together in the new amber category. What used to be labeled amber syrup is now likely to be labeled as dark, and the old dark is now extra dark.

For long time syrup producers, such as the Conboy's and Gorr's, the change will be confusing at first. But as long as they can get sap runs like 2015 and 2016, they can live with the new labels.