The sticky business of syrup
DRESDEN, ON. MARCH 17, 2015- Earl Elgie adjusts the evaporator in his sugar shack in Dresden Ont. on Tuesday, March 17, 2015. The evaporator is boiling the sap down to a thick, dense liquid which will eventually be bottled as maple syrup. (Photo By Julia Poehlman)
Harvesting maple sap depends on the weather and one Ontario farmer is pleased with this year’s production.
Ontario produces more than one million litres of maple syrup per year and it all depends on the warm days and cold nights. In early spring, temperatures rise above freezing during the day and drop below freezing at night. This temperature variation causes the flow of sap in maple trees. The sap flow can begin in February and continue through April.
Earl Elgie is a farmer from Dresden, Ont. and has been farming since 1979. He said this year’s harvest has been good for him, even though the weather might not have been great for people.
“It’s been an average production year. That’s one of the wonders of making maple syrup, you never know how the year is going to turn out until you are done,” said Elgie.
With farmers having such a strong dependence on weather conditions, there is always a possibility of having a poor harvest. Elgie said there have been some reduced harvesting seasons.
“There have been some seasons where it gets warm all of a sudden and the sap quit flowing. That would be the main reason why we don’t get a big crop,” said Elgie. “Mother Nature dictates how much sap is going to flow.”
So far this year the Elgies have made around 450 litres of maple syrup. Elgie’s wife, Nancy, said the number of litres they make is always changing.
“It varies from year to year depending on how much we get,” said Nancy. “We sell on average 350-400 litres.”
Elgie said a tree can produce roughly 40 – 50 litres of sap. He also said it takes about 50 units of sap to make a gallon of syrup and it takes 15 litres of sap three hours to boil.
“On our operation, because we have soft maple and hard maple, the different trees have different sugar contents. We will probably take 50 units of sap whether it is 50 litres or gallons to make a gallon of syrup,” said Elgie.
Elgie said the difference between the soft and hard maple trees is the sugar content.
“You can tell by the look of the tree, but the sap of the hard maple are traditionally called sugar maple,” said Elgie. “They have probably twice the sugar content in their sap as soft maple, as a general rule.”
Elgie said making maple syrup is a lot of hard work and can take up most of his time, but most of all he said it depends on the effects of the weather.
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