8/27/2023 0 Comments Big leaf maple beerServed with a pomegranate Sriracha dipping Production, though, dropped off this past year because of an unseasonably warm winter.A rich blend of smoked duck bacon, cream cheese, charred sweet corn and The ideal conditions for bigleaf maple sap are the freezes and thaws that punctuate the island winter, producers say. Macy and others to devise the techniques behind making bigleaf maple syrup. Macy developed a master woodland manager course that included a component on non-timber resources, such as maple syrup. "When people told me it was impossible, that I couldn't do it, that made me try even harder," Mr. Macy, who operates a 400-hectare woodlot at Courtenay, first became interested in the possibilities of bigleaf maple syrup in the mid 1990s when he was the forester at the University of British Columbia's Oyster River Research Station near Campbell River on Vancouver Island. However, there are about a dozen sapsuckers, as they call themselves, who each harvest more than 1,000 litres of sap a year, according to Harold Macy, the person credited with stimulating interest in bigleaf maple syrup. Because bigleaf maple syrup has about half the sugar content of Eastern maple syrup, it takes twice the number of spiles - about 2,000 - to make the collection economically feasible, Mr. Some trees can take more than one spile, the plastic or metal spout inserted into a small hole drilled into the trunk and through which the sap flows into a plastic tube connected to a container. It can take up to 100 litres of sap to make one litre of syrup, Mr. It's energy-intensive work, not the least being the time and firewood required to boil down the sap. Redlin, who estimated he spent $6,000 to $7,000 to set up his sugar shack and two evaporators and purchase other equipment. "It's an awful lot of work, but it's fun," said Mr. He then transports the sap to his home about 20 minutes away on the north side of the city. Redlin has permission to collect sap from 350 to 400 maples on Nanaimo airport property. There are huge patches not being utilized. "I travel on the Island a lot and I'm always looking at patches of maple trees. Nanaimo producer Ed Redlin thinks it has the potential to develop into a cottage industry. "This activity could provide a supplemental income for farmers, private forest landowners and entrepreneurs in the coastal forest region where bigleaf maple is found," concluded Deirdre Bruce in her 2008 University of Victoria master's thesis on bigleaf maple sap production. At that, bigleaf maple syrup accounts for a tiny fraction of Canada's total maple syrup production, which was valued at $117-million in 2006, according to Agriculture Canada. By his calculation, that made about 1,200 litres of syrup. "My guess is right now we're harvesting about 60,000 litres a year," Mr. Backlund, one of the organizers, estimated that the festival took in $20,000 to $25,000, including $5,000 to $10,000 in syrup sales. "Then there's been more than 2,000 for the last two events, which is about our maximum capacity for an event like that." "In our first year, we were expecting to have a few hundred people attend and 1,400 showed up," said Aimee Greenaway, curator at the Forest Discovery Centre where the festival takes place. A 250-millilitre bottle of bigleaf syrup typically sells for $20 compared with $8.69 for the same-size supermarket-variety bottle. That became apparent this February at the third annual Bigleaf Maple Syrup Festival in Duncan, when the syrup sold out. Phelps said.ĭemand for Vancouver Island maple syrup outstrips supply. "We have stores in Victoria wanting to buy wholesale from us, but we just can't produce enough," Ms. The syrup sells quickly at the farm's store, says Lynda Phelps, the farm's business manager. At Glenora Farms near Duncan, about 60 kilometres north of Victoria, Lawrence Lampson has collected as much as 1,000 litres of sap in one day and has set up commercial-quality evaporators to process it. Others are trying to make a business of it. Titus sent away for a mail-order maple syrup kit and began experimenting himself. Rather than wait until next year though, Mr. Unfortunately, the class was fully booked. Aware of the 100 or so maples on the 3.5 hectares he and wife Laura Ferreira inhabit near Cowichan Bay, about 55 kilometres north of Victoria, Mr. He grew up thinking one could not make maple syrup on the Island.Ībout seven years ago, he chanced across a notice in a local newspaper for a course on how to make it. Most of the few dozen producers on Vancouver Island are hobbyists such as Steve Titus.
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