COLRAIN, Mass (WWLP) — It’s not winter in New England without seeing maple sap lines run along with the trees. We’re in the midst of the season right now in Western Massachusetts.
Last month, we had some very warm days. We’ve hit the 60s on multiple occasions this winter, even hitting a record 70 degrees one day. Generally speaking, for good maple syrup, a daily freeze-and-thaw cycle is what’s needed.
This warmer-than-normal winter weather we’ve been experiencing is expected to impact the production of maple syrup, but it’s still too early to tell just how big that impact will be.
We’ve cooled down in the past week or two compared to some days in January, so it’s still possible to have a good yield this season. Erik Lively, a partner with Sunrise Farms, explained to 22News exactly how maple syrup is made.
“So this right here is the evaporator. It’s a sealed unit, because it creates steam, so it’s going to capture that stream somehow. This is our deforming agent, and it’s certified organic, we’re also certified organic. We’ve been certified organic for five years now.
The control panel here is pretty much the brains of the operation. Filter press, after the syrup gets drawn off it runs through the filter press and that’s how you get the nice, crystal clear syrup.”
It takes about 40 gallons of tree sap to make one gallon of syrup. Lively told 22News, their evaporator makes about 15 gallons of syrup every single hour, so they’ve had their hands full already this season.
