Aroostook syrup makers catch ‘sugar bug’

    EASTON, Maine — Nearly 100 Maine sugarhouses were open to the public March 23 as part of Maine Maple Sunday. The annual event, held every fourth Sunday in March, gives visitors the opportunity to enjoy freshly made maple syrup and candy, demonstrations of syrup production, sugarbush tours and a variety of other family activities.
    One such participating sugarhouse was The Maple Moose, located at 28 Bowers Road in Easton.
    “We’ve been in business since 2007,” said C.J. King, who co-owns the business with his wife, Jodi. “I was at an Agway in Bangor and bought a starter kit that came with 10 taps, a hydrometer cup, a hydrometer and a book. That led to this.
    “I had always had an interest in maple. My brother actually had a small sugarhouse; I enjoyed helping him when he was doing that. My Dad always had a love for maple, and every spring when we took our school break (April vacation) we would cut wood,” King said. “He was always trying to boil syrup on an open fire — in a coffee can — and I don’t think I ever got a drop of syrup out of that. It either fell over and put the fire out or boiled dry, but he always tried. Maybe it’s in my blood? My wife and I started it on a woodstove with a turkey cooker and I caught the bug; it’s called the sugar bug.”
    A carpenter by trade, King said The Maple Moose is a “hobby gone wild.”
    “It is its own small business; it’s the equivalent of limited part-time. In order for something like this to be big enough for one full-time person, you’d need 10,000 taps,” he said. “This is an investment, but I enjoy it. I get to go out in the woods in the spring. If it’s been a long winter, it gets me out in early February to start the process. You get a lot of exercise because you snowshoe to the trees, plus you get a lot of fresh air. You get to be out with the animals, and it’s quiet out there, and you work with the trees, which is fun.”
    This year King has drilled “a little over 1,500 taps.”
    “We have a mid-sized operation. Once you get over 1,000 taps, you’re no longer a backyard sugar maker. You’re going to have to have an evaporator that will process 50-60 gallons an hour, and you’re going to have to have a reverse osmosis (RO) machine,” said King. “We process the sap with that first and it removes some of the water from the sap which reduces your boiling time.
    “If we have an average year, and we shoot for a quart of syrup per tap, that tells me that each tree would produce 10 gallons of sap at 40-1, and if we can get an average year, I’m hoping for 450 gallons of finished product,” he said, noting they put no additives or preservatives in any of their products. “It’s 100 percent natural.”
    King said there are four different groves — in four different locations — they tap.
    “We haul all our sap back here because some are remote. We tap a couple of different varieties of maple — we tap some sugar maples, which is the predominant species for maple; some red maples and I have a few black maples, as well. I feel the combination of species gives us a good tasting syrup,” he said, noting that the color of the syrup will change throughout the year. “We might start off with an amber and then go to a delicate or lighter color, and then have a darker color. The lighter colors will have a more delicate taste to them, while the darker the syrup, the more robust the flavor will get.”
    Recognizing that this has been a “tough winter,” King said the sap isn’t flowing yet.
    “In the seven years that I’ve been tapping, I’ve never seen this much snow in the woods … there are places where there’s four-and-a-half to five feet. It’s been a very slow season so far because the temperatures have been so cold that the trees are waiting for spring. The trees know it’s not spring,” he said. “The weather is going to delay the start of the season. We had a little run last Friday afternoon … just enough to tease us.
    “Everything is ready; normally we can start anywhere from the last of February till the first of April. For the last five years, I’ve started and ended 30 days from each other. My first boil last year was March 9, and I finished April 9. Normally up here we have a 30-day window, which isn’t much. Right now the sap isn’t flowing. We’ve got to get above freezing, which I hope will happen this week. The window for doing this is very small,” said King.
    “With such a short window, you’ve got to anticipate any breakdowns or any major catastrophes. As that spring band comes around to us, we’re the last to start so all the replenishing supplies are gone. If you lose your evaporator pan or RO membrane, you’re done. You have to make sure you’re ready for some of those catastrophes,” he added.
    A member of the Maine Maple Producers Association, King said he enjoys opening his doors to the public on Maine Maple Sunday.
    “It’s a chance to let people come in, talk sugaring, see what we’re doing, and taste some products,” he said. “This was our third year participating. When I look out and the sugarhouse is full of people, then that’s a good sign.”
    Equally enjoyable is the fact that The Maple Moose is a family business.
    “My oldest son, Joe, helps with the woods work and equipment, and my wife and I have concocted the confection part of the business. We do the trade shows and some of the farmers’ markets, market and sell the product, and maintain the website,” said King. “During the weekend of Maine Maple Sunday, I have sisters, cousins, nephews and other relatives come and help us out. It’s a good family time. It’s fun to bring everybody together.”
    On March 5, Gov. Paul R. LePage highlighted the start of Maine’s maple season by tapping a maple tree on the Blaine House lawn with legislators and representatives from the MMPA. The governor used the annual event to highlight the economic contributions of Maine’s maple syrup industry and its potential to create more jobs.
    “This industry demonstrates the excellent opportunity Maine has to promote its natural resource-based economy, as well as to promote job creation for our citizens,” said LePage. “According to a recent study, Maine’s maple industry contributes an estimated $27.7 million directly to the Maine economy. That same study also shows that Maine’s maple industry has an annual statewide economic contribution, including multiplier effects, of an estimated $48.7 million in output, 805 full- and part-time jobs and $25.1 million in labor income.”
    The study was conducted by University of Maine Professor of Economics Todd Gabe and funded through a partnership between the Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry, University of Maine and the MMPA.
    Other key findings of the study include:
    • Maine has the third largest maple industry in the United States.
    • Maine’s maple industry is characterized by a relatively small number of farms accounting for the vast majority of syrup that is produced.
    • Maine’s licensed maple syrup producers have been in operation an average of 24 years, and many of the farms span multiple generations.
    • Maine’s maple industry, which counts the licensed producers and sales at retail food stores and businesses impacted by Maine Maple Sunday, generates 567 full- and part-time jobs and $17.3 million in labor income.
    For more information on the state’s maple industry, log onto www.mainemapleproducers.com. To learn more about The Maple Moose, log onto www.themaplemoose.com or like them on Facebook.