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Agritourism: Education, Marketing, and More

Agritourism plays two important roles. First, it educates the public about farming and their local food system. Second, it supports farmers by increasing sales opportunities and building a loyal customer base. The term encompasses an array of on-farm attractions, events, or services. Events can take a simple Ð and limited Ð form such participating in a stateÕs maple weekend. Or it can be as complex as opening a restaurant. Agritourism includes anything from school field trips, to B&Bs, to pick-your-own, and wine tastings. Sometimes fun, sometimes educational, sometimes both, the common threads are connection and experience.

Publication:
Maple Syrup Digest
Date:
February 1, 2019

Maple Syrup Producers of the Lake States, USA: Attitudes Towards and Adaptation to Social, Ecological, and Climate Conditions

Maple syrup is an important non-timber forest product derived from the sap of the sugar maple (Acer saccharum Marshall). However, maple syrup producers are facing a diversity of challenges, including: potential range shifts in the maple resource; increasing variability in the timing, duration and yield of sap flow and syrup operations; invasive species, pests and diseases; and intergenerational land and business transfer challenges. Members of Maple Syrup Producer Associations in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan were surveyed to learn about their operations, adaptation strategies, concerns, and information needs.

Publication:
Environmental Management
Date:
January 28, 2019

Composition and Properties of Maple Sap, Concentrate, and Permeate

Reverse osmosis is used widely in the maple syrup industry to concentrate maple sap and increase the overall efficiency and profitability of syrup pro-duction. Sets of samples from maple producers utilizing a range of sap con-centration levels were collected and analyzed to provide a portrait of the phy-sicochemical properties and chemical composition of maple sap, concentrate, and permeate across a single production season. The results reinforce that re-verse osmosis functions essentially as a concentration process, without signifi-cantly altering the fundamental proportions of sap constituents.

Publication:
Agricultural Sciences
Date:
January 10, 2019

Maple Syrup Density Management

Consistent, accurate measurement of maple syrup density is a challenge for many maple syrup producers. In maple sap and maple syrup, Brix may be determined using either density (hydrometer or hydrotherm) or refractometry (optical or digital refractometer). This is a guide to determining density of maple syrup.

Date:
January 1, 2019

Ask Proctor

The leaves on the trees are still mostly green and few have fallen. Does this indicate anything for the upcoming sugar season?

Publication:
Maple Syrup Digest
Date:
December 1, 2018

A Slow Boil: Marketing’s Long Game

A common marketing mistake is starting with the tools: social media, labels, or logos. Instead, marketing starts with: the business story, business goals, and identifying customers.

Publication:
Maple Syrup Digest
Date:
December 1, 2018

Chemical and microbial characterization of ropy maple sap and syrup

Ropiness of maple syrup is a phenomenon that can occur several times in the season. The alteration known as ÒropinessÓ is characterized by a viscous, thick, slimy/jelly-like texture which, although not noticeably altering the taste, renders the product unpleasant in terms of mouthfeel. The aim of this study was to estimate the economic impact of production of ropy maple syrup in the region of Quebec, to more deeply identify and characterize bacteria associated to this type of quality defect, and to study the composition of Polysaccharides found in stringy maple syrup.

Publication:
Maple Syrup Digest
Date:
December 1, 2018

A systems biology approach to explore the impact of maple tree dormancy release on sap variation and maple syrup quality

Maple sap is a complex nutrient matrix collected during spring to produce maple syrup. The characteristics of sap change over the production period and its composition directly impacts syrup quality. This variability could in part be attributed to changes in tree metabolism following dormancy release, but little is known about these changes in deciduous trees. Therefore, understanding the variation in sap composition associated with dormancy release could help pinpoint the causes of some defects in maple syrup. In particular, a defect known as ÒbuddyÓ, is an increasing concern for the industry. This off-flavor appears around the time of bud break, hence its name. To investigate sap variation related to bud break and the buddy defect, we monitored sap variation with respect to a dormancy release index (Sbb) and syrup quality. First, we looked at variation in amino acid content during this period. We observed a shift in amino acid relative proportions associated with dormancy release and found that most of them increase rapidly near the point of bud break, correlating with changes in syrup quality. Second, we identified biological processes that respond to variation in maple sap by performing a competition assay using the barcoded Saccharomyces cerevisiae prototroph deletion collection. This untargeted approach revealed that the organic sulfur content may be responsible for the development of the buddy off-flavor, and that dormancy release is necessary for the appearance of the defect, but other factors such as microbial activity may also be contributing.

Publication:
Nature
Date:
October 2, 2018

Ask Proctor

Will the dry weather affect syrup production next spring?

Publication:
Maple Syrup Digest
Date:
October 1, 2018

Tapping Tips: The basics of identifying trees and setting taps

Whether you anticipate tapping in your backyard with a half dozen trees or you wish to begin a bit more aggressively with several hundred taps, the core techniques and methods are the same. This guide will introduce you to basic maple tree identification and then prepare you for the basics of tree tapping, time of tapping and the logistics of getting started in the woods.

Publication:
Maple Syrup Digest
Date:
October 1, 2018