I was speaking with my father yesterday- who lives the heart of sugar bush country – and it looks like syrup producers are poised and ready for take-off this weekend!
At long last!!
Ah, there is nothing like the maple syrup time of year, if you ask me, and I have spent more years than I can recall working the sugar bush. Times I will never forget..not easy work, I might add, but extremely rewarding!
What a blast it was – running lines, repairing breaks, tapping, watching the evaporator, taking the syrup off and even canning. The whole operation is a hoot right down to the moment when that first batch of syrup comes off…man it tastes great when its warm.
There is a definite science involved in any maple syrup operation; from understanding the sap’s sugar content at various times of the year, knowing the colour, taste and density of grade ‘A’ syrup, to skills like understanding how to build and maintain the perfect fire to keep your evaporator going steady.
Then there’s moment when the ‘webbing starts’ at precisely 7 degrees above boiling point of water, and your pure maple syrup is ripe for the picking, or pouring I should say.
Old school syrup producers have never used modern gauges and I’m sure never worried about it either. They can read more in the webbing off their ladle than a thousand sophisticated gauges could ever read..now that is science in itself.
The final product, well, it is a thing of beauty and there is really nothing in the world that compares to the taste of fresh maple syrup, or taffy on snow.
Canada produces 90% of the world’s supply of maple syrup(majority coming from QC) – a statistic we should be extremely proud of. It is a big part of our heritage just like hunting, fishing or the fur industry.
Now get out there and enjoy some pure Canadian goodness!! (The forecast this weekend looks like -3 to -5 at night with a daily high around 4 -5 degrees C, and all of next week looks the same.)
Outdoorsguy
