Maple Weekends Coming March 17-18, March 24-25

From state Sen. Patricia Ritchie:

Maple syrup is not just for pancakes anymore.  

There is maple candy, maple popcorn, maple jelly and even maple pepper.  If those — and of course maple syrup — sound like “sweet” treats you might want to try, I highly encourage you to find a nearby sugarhouse taking part in upcoming “Maple Weekend” events.

Held March 17 and 18, and then again March 24 and 25, Maple Weekend is held across the state. There are 177 maple farms across New York state set to open up their sugarhouses to show people just how real maple syrup is made, and of course offer some tasty samples.

Some smaller maple producers still use buckets to collect sap.

Here in New York state, maple is more than just something sweet. It’s an important, growing part of our agriculture economy. 

In fact, New York is second in the nation — just behind Vermont — when it comes to maple syrup production.  With the largest number of tappable trees in the United States, there is great potential for us to become number one. 

As chair of the Senate Agriculture Committee, I have been working in recent years to support the growth of New York’s maple industry in a number of ways, including by securing money for important research. 

I will also be advocating for a new piece of legislation called “Maple One,” which has the ambitious goal of overtaking Vermont as America’s leading maple producer by issuing permits to allow farmers to tap maple trees on certain state-owned lands.

Maple products at the New York State Fair

The upcoming “Maple Weekend” events are the perfect way for people to not only sample everything maple syrup, but also to help support those who help put it on our tables. I hope you’ll take part in this sweet tradition.

For more information, on “Maple Weekend”, including a list of the participating sugarhouses nearest to you, visit the New York State Maple Producers Association website at www.nysmaple.com.

First Maple Weekend Set for March 18-19

Maple Weekends, New York’s annual celebration of all that is maple, are being held March 18 and 19 and March 25 and 26.
 
On those weekends, many producers throughout the state open up their operations so the public can see how trees are tapped, how sap is collected and how sap is boiled down to make syrup. Some producers even operate pancakes breakfasts featuring their fresh maple syrup.
 
Go to http://www.nysmaple.com/maple-weekend-search/plan-your-maple-weekend/ to find a maple weekend site near you.
 
The production of maple syrup is extremely weather dependent — producers need cold night in the upper 20s and daytime temperatures in the low to mid-40s. 

According to statistics from the state Department of Agriculture and Markets, the earliest a maple season began was Jan. 10 in 2011. The latest a season began was April 1 in 1940.
 
Last year, temperatures were a bit crazy, going up and down for a couple of months.
 
At the beginning of February, the weather warmed up just enough for many producers to head out to their trees, tap and start harvesting sap. Temperatures need to be about 40 degrees or a little higher during the day to get the sap flowing and then down below freezing (not too cold, in the upper 20s is best) at night.
 
As producers relished making syrup early in the season, their happiness was short-lived as temperatures plummeted in mid-February — even hitting single digits for highs Feb. 14 and lows way below zero for three straight days (Feb. 13, 14 and 15).
 
Producers got back to harvesting sap and making syrup in March and the season ended on a great note — a record 707,000 gallons of syrup were made.
 
The biggest maple county in the state is Lewis County, which also is home to the state’s Maple Museum.
 
Most recent figures for value of maple syrup production in New York:
2005: $7,037,000
2006: $8,020,000
2007: $7,638,000
2008: $13,907,000
2009: $17,820,000
2010: $12,293,000
2011: $22,052,000
2012: $15,660,000
2013: $25,026,000
2014: $21,676,000
2015: $25,242,000
Source: National Agricultural Statistics Service

Maple Weekends Coming in March

Maple Weekends, New York’s annual celebration of all that is maple, are being held March 18 and 19 and March 25 and 26.
 
On those weekends, many producers throughout the state open up their operations so the public can see how trees are tapped, how sap is collected and how sap is boiled down to make syrup. Some producers even operate pancakes breakfasts featuring their fresh maple syrup.
 
Go to http://www.nysmaple.com/maple-weekend-search/plan-your-maple-weekend/ to find a maple weekend site near you.
 
The production of maple syrup is extremely weather dependent — producers need cold night in the upper 20s and daytime temperatures in the low to mid-40s. 

According to statistics from the state Department of Agriculture and Markets, the earliest a maple season began was Jan. 10 in 2011. The latest a season began was April 1 in 1940.
 
Last year, temperatures were a bit crazy, going up and down for a couple of months.
 
At the beginning of February, the weather warmed up just enough for many producers to head out to their trees, tap and start harvesting sap. Temperatures need to be about 40 degrees or a little higher during the day to get the sap flowing and then down below freezing (not too cold, in the upper 20s is best) at night.
 
As producers relished making syrup early in the season, their happiness was short-lived as temperatures plummeted in mid-February — even hitting single digits for highs Feb. 14 and lows way below zero for three straight days (Feb. 13, 14 and 15).
 
Producers got back to harvesting sap and making syrup in March and the season ended on a great note — a record 707,000 gallons of syrup were made.
 
The biggest maple county in the state is Lewis County, which also is home to the state’s Maple Museum.
 
Most recent figures for value of maple syrup production in New York:
2005: $7,037,000
2006: $8,020,000
2007: $7,638,000
2008: $13,907,000
2009: $17,820,000
2010: $12,293,000
2011: $22,052,000
2012: $15,660,000
2013: $25,026,000
2014: $21,676,000
2015: $25,242,000
Source: National Agricultural Statistics Service

New Exhibits Planned for Maple at New York State Fair

Buckets hang from maple trees collecting sap.

The New York State Maple Producers Association will have a new exhibit at the New York State Fair this summer.

Association Executive Director Helen Thomas said the exhibit, in the Horticulture Building, will feature a working tubing system with water (representing sap) so people can see how the sap moves from the tree into a collection releaser. The releaser will periodically fill and dump, creating a noise and splash.

The association also is designing a cutaway of a tree to show how the sap flows up and down in the maple tree as the temperature changes.

“These two features will highlight a brand new interactive display that will make folks feel like they are standing in the maple woods,” Thomas continued. “This display will also provide fairgoers with free samples of maple syrup. We hope that these new features will entice people to stop at the maple center where we make all sorts of confections on the premises, and where they can meet and talk with the hard working maple producers of the Great State of New York.”

New York state ranks second nationwide in maple syrup production (Vermont is number 1) and accounts for 18 percent of the nation’s output with 574,000 gallons produced in 2013.  

“This year, we want fairgoers to encounter the mystery of maple’s sweet sap,” Thomas said. “How does the maple tree share its tasty sweetness?  How do they get all that sap out of the woods and over to the sugarhouse?  How does the sap become the great sweetener we know as maple syrup?  You can experience these mysteries first hand by stopping by the new maple display in the Horticulture Building at the New York State Fair beginning Aug. 21.”

 “Maple syrup is such a hugely important agricultural industry here in the state,” said state Agriculture and Markets Commissioner Richard Ball.  “The primary focus of the Great New York State Fair is to educate fairgoers about the breadth of New York agriculture and we are pleased that the New York State Maple Producers Association will be ramping up their educational efforts at this year’s fair.”    

For more information about New York’s huge maple industry, please visit www.nysmaple.com.