Maple Sap to Maple Syrup
When winter is half over and the ground hog has scurried back to his burrow, the first warm days trigger the sap flow of our deciduous trees.
Maple syrup producers rush to set their taps before mid-February to be sure they catch the earliest sap flow — the richest, purest sap, ideal for the best maple syrup. While all deciduous trees produce sap, the sap from sugar, red, silver, and black maples bear the highest sugar content, ranging from 2.5 to 3%.
Once the sap has started to run, the flow may continue for three to six weeks, supporting a “healthy” flow for only 10 to 15 days each season. Syruping season ends when the flavor of the syrup issues a “greening” flavor, which is when budding begins.
Connecticut producers capture these few weeks of sap flow. One maple tree with at least a 10-inch diameter, sporting a single tap, can yield as much as 10 gallons of sap throughout the season. An older, larger tree may produce 40 gallons, which will boil down to a single gallon.
Early settlers learned about maple syruping from Northeast American Indian Nations, specifically the Iroquois and Algonquin. Initially, sap was collected and boiled down in clay pots.
Sugar embargos during the colonial period saw the development of syruping techniques. Bucket and yoke collection and kettle cook-down yielded to metal piping, flat-top stoves, and evaporator pans before World War I. With the development of plastic tubing, metal piping was replaced. Today, we’re seeing more vacuum tubing, which can reduce the cook-down process by 20%.
Using gas, oil, or electric heating methods makes maintaining low boiling temperatures — optimally seven degrees above boiling (218 to 220 degrees F) — easier than using wood. This low-evaporating temperature ensures a lighter color, higher grade of syrup. Larger producers have also invested in reverse osmosis units, cutting evaporating time in half.
Today we have hydrometers to measure the sugar content of the syrup at different stages of the process and upon completion. The accepted standard set by the Vermont Sugarers and adopted in Connecticut is a sugar content of 66 Brix. At that point, the syrup is antimicrobial.
It is then filtered and bottled immediately, while still over 180 degrees F, to eliminate bacteria and limit oxygen. The seal is completed as the temperature drops, good for several years of cool, dry storage.
Local producers favor glass bottling, as plastic containers tend to breathe, expanding or contracting with temperature, breaching the seal — though good for short-term sales. Metal containers may corrode over time.
Visiting Brothers & Sons Sugar House in Torrington, I learned how a young couple, Bill and Fran Schoonmaker, began making syrup for themselves in 1985, as her parents had. Their operation grew as their family did, with sons Eric and Kyle, his wife, Ashley, her brother, down to their 6-year-old grandson, Clark.
They’ve expanded collection from their north Torrington groves to East Street, Goshen, improving systems and updating equipment over the years. They sell from their own sugarhouse, farmers markets, and independent markets, including Blue Seal and Petricone’s Pharmacy.
Brothers Rob and Leonard Lamothe began sugaring in 1971, with three maple trees and seven taps — just enough to satisfy their Burlington homesteading needs.
Two years later, a fellow stopped by looking for maple syrup. By 1974, they had built their first sugarhouse, with light, electricity, and heat. They continued to grow with the demand, working their neighborhood trees and expanding in their Main Street locality. Today, they lease several sites throughout the village.
In 1988, Rob built a new sugarhouse and store. He also took on a junior partner, Ray Zargurski.
Lamothe’s syrup has continued to update. He sells syrup through Market 32 and Big Y. His store also offers maple sugars, candies, extracts, spices, and rubs, in addition to his honey, Greg Millers spices, local crafts, stenciled linen, and kitchenware.
Lastly, we visited the SAPS of East Canaan. Their sugaring operation began when Mary Perotti, a business major, came home from college for winter break in 2004. Her father, William Perotti (of William Perotti & Sons, Plumbing and Heating), offered her a spot where he’d garaged his service trucks. She finished her degree and currently works with her dad, while her brother, Champ, took over sugaring as a “hobby.”
The SAPs (Segalla, Allen, and Perotti) have included wives, seniors, and neighbors coming together for sugaring season, collecting sap from over 700 trees, trucking it over to their sugarhouse, where they have since installed an elaborate and upgraded system of filtering and piping.
This team currently consists of Champ and Delorise Perotti, Clarence Dubey, his wife Lorraine, Terry and Deborah Olsen, John and Heidi Lillis, Don Segalla, Mike Devino, Jeri Veronisi, her son, Steve, and Ellen Gerard. Anyone else who tags along is put to work (like Brendt Bosio, who, after college, joined the team at the Audubon Society, where he currently runs their sugaring operation).
This syrup is not for sale: The close to 200 gallons they produce is distributed throughout the town, including to neighbors who have offered their maple stands, veterans, workers and volunteers in church and civic organizations, and even the local food bank.
Maple syrups and sugars are found in a wide variety of products, ranging from candies and ice cream to yogurts and cheeses, salad dressings and marinades, glazes, rubs, breads, and pastries — almost any recipe using sugar.
Maple syrups and sugars are a healthier alternative. The saps draw vitamins and minerals up from the ground water, carrying zinc, manganese, calcium, and potassium. This counterbalances the sugars to offer a low glycemic index, minimizing sugar spikes, ideal for diabetics.
The syrup carries over 24 antioxidants and flavonoids minimizing DNA damage and mutations, protecting from cancers and buttressing immune systems, reducing stressors, inflammation, and skin disease. It even aids in digestion.
