Last weekend for the Kettle Boys & Shantymen
It is indeed a good year for maple syrup production! At Fortune Farms we achieved our annual production target, which is our long-term moving average, earlier this week. We now have ample supplies of golden, amber and dark grades on hand.
The snow is mostly gone from the fields but it is hanging on in the cool areas in the woods. We got a little more snow on April 7th, and the cold weather recharged the trees so we received heavy runs of sap on April 8 and 9 and expect the flow to continue into the weekend. Blasts of cold and snow in April are frustrating for those hoping for spring, but welcomed by maple farmers!
People enjoy tasting the different grades of syrup, and often ask what determines the colours of maple syrup.
All our maple syrup is normally packed around 66.5% to 67% sugar, so the sugar content is the same for all the grades, but it is the type of sugar that causes changes in colour and flavour. The sugar that the trees produce is sucrose. Microbes which get into the sap through contact with pipelines, tanks and air become more active as temperatures increase and their actions convert sucrose to other forms of sugar, glucose and fructose. The chemical reactions created by the heat during the evaporation process, cause the sugars to darken. Glucose and fructose darken at lower temperatures than sucrose, so sap with these sugars spends more time in the darkening phase as we boil it to the finishing point.
We have enjoyed hosting many visitors at the farm this year! The forecast for the coming weekend looks very good, and it will be the last weekend for the Kettle Boys and Shantymen. So, if you were wanting to see these folks, this weekend will be your last chance. We are open from 10 to 4 daily.
Our family also visits regularly and we have fun carrying on our maple tradition! Above is a photo of Sherry with granddaughters Olivia and Charlotte (bottom). It does indeed all start with buckets, as explained in this Humm article from March 2006, It All Starts with Buckets.
