Syrup makers see job as golden
Lawrence J. Rudd's favorite month is March.
He loves tapping trees before and after his job at the state Department of Environmental Conservation. He enjoys using his Fridays and weekends to get his system running. And he relishes the week he takes off before Maple Weekend to boil syrup for 18 to 20 hours a day.
About a month before Maple Weekend, Mr. Rudd begins tapping trees. On a group of trees in his front yard south of Mannsville, he uses the old-fashioned bucket system. With an electric drill, he makes a hole about 21/2 inches deep above or next to a scar that indicates where the tree was tapped previously. Then he gently taps in a sap spile.
"We call it tapping because you don't bang it in," Mr. Rudd said. A harder knock would create a crack and allow sap to leak out.
In the north country, many maple producers still use the old-fashioned bucket system, which requires producers to empty each bucket. But many are connecting the taps to a network of clear tubing that empties into a large barrel.
It makes collection much easier, Mr. Rudd said. The tubing systems are numbered and mapped.
"We hang about 300 buckets and that's 298 too many."
In total, the Rudds have about 1,200 taps, each one producing about a quart of syrup. Larger, older trees get up to three taps. Maple producers wait until a tree is 12 to 14 inches across, or 35 to 40 years old, for the first tap.
Mr. Rudd said a good early run of sap came the second week of March. That produced a large amount of good-quality syrup.
"We had an above-average year," Mr. Rudd said. "It's never enough. But we did really well this year."
As it gets later in the season, the quality of the sap drops, producing darker syrup with a heavier taste and lower grade.
The Rudds wrapped up production in the first week of April. But with the recent cold weather, maple producers in Lewis County and other high-elevation areas are still going. Sap runs best when lows are about 20 degrees Fahrenheit and highs about 40 degrees.
"Most producers are very happy with their crop," said Mary Jean Packer, executive director of New York State Maple Producers Association.
Ms. Packer said producers have told her they have tapped more trees this year, partly because of the high price for maple syrup.
Prices fluctuate by region but there is no surplus syrup left from previous crops, driving up the price of this year's run. Prices have reached as high as $80 a gallon in New Hampshire already, with traditionally lower Midwest prices hovering around $50 to $60 a gallon. New York producers should easily be able to get $60 per gallon this year, according to the New York Times.
TREE HEALTH
Mr. Rudd said he is asked regularly if tapping hurts trees.
"It has little effect on the maple trees," he said. "We're more conscientious about our trees than the average homeowner. Tapping is about as peaceful a thing you can do."
In one forest lot, they've cleared out space around the best trees to enable them to develop large canopies and root systems.
"We do a lot of forest management," Mr. Rudd said.
He planted maple trees close to his sugar shack using what the Uihlein Sugar Maple Research and Field Station, Lake Placid, says is optimum spacing: 30 feet between trees.
"That's so our kids and grandkids will have a backyard sugarbush," Mr. Rudd added.
With the high demand for syrup, maple experts are working on programs to encourage more production in New York.
"Maple is one of the few bright spots in the economy," said Michael L. Farrell, director of the Uihlein station. "The more syrup we can make, the better off we can be."
Mr. Farrell and Ms. Packer are members of the state's Maple Task Force, which is encouraging landowners to produce, tap and sell the sap or lease their trees to a maple producer.
"If the producer qualifies for an ag assessment, then the landowner qualifies for an ag assessment," Mr. Farrell said.
The task force also is pushing for implementation of a state law passed in 2005 that would give producers access to state-owned forests. Ms. Packer said DEC wants to create statewide tapping guidelines and a permitting process for the program.
The task force also is looking for grants from the federal government for technical assistance and the state's Energy Research and Development Authority for energy-efficient tools for maple producers.
"Everything is in place," Ms. Packer said. "We just need more producers and more trees tapped."
Mr. Farrell agreed. He said the international demand created by years of strong Canadian marketing have created insatiable demand for maple syrup and related products.
BOILING THE SAP
Once the producers get a good run of sap, they fire up the evaporator. Mr. Rudd burns wood in his, but most larger producers use oil.
"We do things a lot differently than a lot of maple producers," Mr. Rudd said. "It takes a tremendous amount of energy to make a gallon of syrup. It takes 12 to 15 cords of wood to make 400 gallons of syrup."
To help the boiling proceed more efficiently, Mr. Rudd invested in a reverse osmosis system a few years ago. Reverse osmosis essentially removes water from the sap, leaving a higher concentrate of the tree's juices.
"Normally, it takes 43 gallons of sap to make one gallon of syrup," he said.
After sap is run through a reverse osmosis system, raising the proportion of sugar from about 2 percent to about 7 percent, it takes only about 12 to 14 gallons of the remaining sap to make a gallon of syrup.
To start syrup production, sap is run through an ultraviolet purification system.
"It kills a lot of bacteria," Mr. Rudd said.
The sap is then sent through the reverse osmosis system, which pulls water out of the sap. Called permeate, the water is saved for cleaning tubing and materials at the end of the season.
Once sap goes through reverse osmosis, it is at 78 degrees and needs to be boiled quickly before bacteria spoil it.
The system makes sure there is always two inches of sap in the evaporator's pans. The sap travels through the pans automatically, changing slightly in color and density as it moves along.
Mr. Rudd uses a barometer to check the boiling point of water several times a day. The boiling point changes based on elevation and barometric pressure. He adds 7 degrees to the boiling point for the right temperature for syrup. As it boils, the proportion of sugar continues to increase — at 66.5 percent, it will be syrup.
"We measure down to one-tenth of a degree," he said.
Once he knows the correct temperature, he puts that into a Marcland Digital Draw-off System. As soon as the temperature of the sap hits that magic number, the system opens a valve and sap, now nearly syrup, runs into a waiting bucket with a heavy cloth filter.
"The technology that's been developed in the last 20 years is very helpful," Mr. Rudd said. "It frees us up so we can be doing other things. The job has become a little more relaxing."
The sap is then finished in a large pot on propane heaters. When the syrup has the right density, Mr. Rudd pours it through another heavy cloth filter. He bottles or cans it quickly before the temperature drops below 180 degrees, "so it seals well."
On the filters, the syrup leaves mineral and sugar crystal deposits behind.
Mr. Rudd makes about 20 to 25 gallons a day.
"We're just a small operation," he said. "There are days when I'd like to be doing a lot more but I'm confident with the size we're at."
MAPLE WEEKEND
While Mr. Rudd is boiling, friends and customers drift in to watch the process and get some fresh maple syrup. But a major focus every March is Maple Weekend.
The Rudds have been part of the statewide celebration of maple products for the past two years. Children, grandchildren and friends help with the collection, boiling and marketing.
In the week before the event, typically held the final two weekends of the month, they stock up on syrup, maple cream and other value-added products. This year, that included maple-flavored coffee and tea.
"We draw a lot from Syracuse, the vicinity and Fort Drum," Mr. Rudd said.
The Rudds give a tour of their sugar shack and describe the process. Marcia E. Rudd greets visitors as they arrive. She said the tour has brought more people to their farm.
"It's helped with the public and making sure even local people know about it and realize we produce," she said. "The question that amazes me the most is, 'When do we add the sugar?'"
Melissa D. Steinbrecher and her daughters, Alexis M., 8, Carissa S., 6, and Aliyah S., 2, came with Cathy M. Steinbrecher, Melissa's mother-in-law, from Pulaski.
"We came from Arizona and I want to expose the kids to lots of things," Melissa said. "In Arizona, nothing is fresh. I can't wait for the strawberries here."
The girls had some maple sugar candy.
"It tastes yummy," Alexis said.
That's why the Rudds still collect and boil syrup, now in their fourth generation.
"We're very proud of the product," Mr. Rudd said. "You're buying a local, guaranteed fresh product."
ON THE NET
Cornell Sugar Maple Research and Extension Program:
www.maple.dnr.cornell.edu/
index.html
New York State Maple
Producers Association:
www.nysmaple.com
Northern New York Ag
Development Fund: www.
nnyagdev.org/_maple.htm
