Page 32 - ARUBA TODAY

A32 FEATURE
Tuesday 13 March 2018

Maple syrup season gets early start in parts of New England

By LISA RATHKE “The fear is that it’s so
Associated Press warm that the season will
EAST MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) end soon,” said Michael
— The annual maple sea- Bryant, of Hilltop Boilers
son got off to another Maple Syrup in Newfield, in
early start with warmups in southern Maine.
parts of New England, and He said he would like to
producers are hopeful the see the season go another
recent cold and snow will two weeks, but that prob-
extend it. ably won’t happen in his
Some producers in Ver- region.
mont, the country’s larg- The Maine governor’s an-
est producer of maple nual ceremonial tree-tap-
syrup, have been going ping event is on March
strong and producing a 20. “We’ll be done mak-
fair amount since about ing syrup before then,” he
mid-February, but histori- said.
cally the season has been In northwestern Pennsylva-
later, said Matt Gordon, nia, it’s been too cold for
executive director of the sap to run in recent days,
Vermont Maple Sugar Pro- but producers are expect-
ducers Association. ing prime temperatures at
“It’s a little disturbing that
we’re starting so early. It’s
getting to be the norm al-
most,” said Doug Bragg, of In this March 7, 2018, photo,
Bragg Family Farm Sugar- Doug Bragg of Bragg Farm
house & Gift Shop in East Sugarhouse & Gift Shop in
Montpelier. “But the thing East Montpelier, Vt., tests the
is that when it starts early, density, or sugar content, of
you know it’s going to get maple syrup being boiled
from sap.
cold again, so you almost, Associated Press
so far, you get kind of two the maple season has
shots at it. It’s almost like a started in early January
second little season,” he in the past three years in
said while boiling sap in Vermont but historically
the sugar house last week. has started in late Febru-
It takes warm days and ary. That’s largely due to
freezing nights for sap technology such as tubing
to flow in maple trees. and vacuum sap collec-
But when temperatures tion systems that allow pro-
get too high, the season ducers to take advantage
abruptly ends with the ap- of January and February
pearance of buds on ma- thaws, said Gary Keough,
ple trees. state statistician with the
According to the U.S. De- USDA National Agricultural In this March 7, 2018, photo, Doug Bragg of Bragg Farm Sugarhouse & Gift Shop in East Montpelier,
partment of Agriculture, Vt., loads firewood into an evaporator that fuels the boiling of maple sap into syrup.
Associated Press
Statistics Service in Con-
cord, New Hampshire. the end of the week.
More sugar makers are “What we really need is
getting their taps in earlier, the warm days, say 42 de-
so they’re ready for those grees, cold nights, below
early sap flows, accord- 28; that helps keep the sap
ing to the Vermont Maple running nice,” said Bill Phil-
Sugar Makers Association. lips, of Fort LeBoeuf Maple
Producers along the coast in Waterford, Pennsylva-
and in southern New nia, and president of the
Hampshire had early sap Northwest Pennsylvania
runs during late January Maple Association.q
and early February, ac-
cording to Jim Fadden,
president of the New
Hampshire Maple Produc-
ers Association.
In Maine, however, some
syrup makers are just get-
ting started in the northern
part of the state.

In this March 7, 2018, photo, old maple syrup cans are displayed at Bragg Family Sugarhouse & To the south, others are
Gift Shop in East Montpelier, Vt. afraid the season is just
Associated Press about over.