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View Full Version : ATC in the Maple Syrup Business?????????



joedannajr
02-04-2012, 19:57
Saw this tree on my AT thru of Hanover NH today.15090

buff_jeff
02-04-2012, 20:50
Probably the Dartmouth Outing Club, or some other club from Dartmouth, I'm guessing.

Wise Old Owl
02-04-2012, 20:55
it doesn't matter to mee....what's your point?

ALLEGHENY
02-04-2012, 20:59
it doesn't matter to mee....what's your point?

I think IT'S A ????????? not a point.

quilteresq
02-04-2012, 21:41
Syrup bucket - very early this year for them.

Lone Wolf
02-04-2012, 23:29
looks to me like the land owner allows the AT to go through his/her property

SwitchbackVT
02-05-2012, 00:05
Vermont Maple syrup is way better :D

VT greeting: "Hoyt! How's the sap runnin?!"

dshideler
02-05-2012, 00:34
I was going to try making some maple syrup this year, but trying to figure this crazy weather out I decided to wait till next year. The red maple buds are already swelling up here in southern Ohio. Crazy.

Cookerhiker
02-05-2012, 08:48
Vermont Maple syrup is way better :D ...

Just like Fall colors in New England are somehow better that the rest of the deciduous belt in Eastern US.:rolleyes:

Actually, I like VT maple syrup very much and always procure some when I'm up there, usually from a farm with a sign out front.

I realize that your context is humorous. ;) Real maple syrup is also available in the high-elevation portions of the mid-Atlantic, not the AT corridor as much but futher west in the Alleghenies. I lived in Western MD for 2 1/2 years where it was plentiful. It's also made in SW PA and the highlands of Western Virginia and West Virginia. I brought a gallon to the '08 Southern Ruck and sure enough, I heard "I didn't think you had real maple syrup in Maryland.." Like those places in New England, I bought it straight from a farm i.e. no middle man.

For years now, I've been hooked (spoiled?) - Real maple syrup is all I'll use.



Referring to the photo, if you cycle the Great Allegheny Passage outside Cumberland, MD, you'll see trees with the hosing and taps.

Old Hillwalker
02-05-2012, 10:03
Speaking as the former AT Corridor Monitor Coordinator for the section between Woodstock, VT and Glen Cliff, NH I can assure you that there is quite a bit of sap gathering (sugaring) that takes place in VT. Both legally and on occasion, not-legally. The landowners from whom lands were acquired quite often retain agricultural rights for the property. Both grazing, hay cultivation, orghard maintenance, and sugaring. It is also possible to obtain a agricultural permit for sugaring on NPS and USFS lands which of course includes the AT Corridor. There are a few sections in Vermont where the plastic sap lines run parallel to the trail for hundreds of yards. One landowner retains nearly full rights to his farm until his death at which time the farm will be the full property of the NPS, and the farm buildings will likely be demolished.

WingedMonkey
02-05-2012, 10:38
There are a few sections in Vermont where the plastic sap lines run parallel to the trail for hundreds of yards.

Coming from the land of sugar cane and sorghum syrup, I had a idealized vision of trees hanging with buckets and sap dripping of New England.
I was quite surprised when I came upon my first "sugaring", and saw the lines running across acres and acres of woods and back to the collection point.
Another Rockwell moment busted.

:p

keepinitsimple
02-05-2012, 10:50
Wow, I have learned a lot about syrup and the law today, and I love it. I will take real maple syrup from anywhere. I am alos glad to hear about the support of local farms. At this time of the year it is great to remember how good we have it in PA, and how good our neighbors are doing. No farms- no food. I work in a boro surrounded by farmland, yet there is not one grocery store in the boro. the people on foot have no access to freash produce. With the exception of a poorly run seasonal farme market that brings in no urban cusomers.

Kerosene
02-05-2012, 10:55
For years now, I've been hooked (spoiled?) - Real maple syrup is all I'll use.Same here. I'm definitely spoiled, to the point that I appreciate the difference between Vermont, central New York, northern Minnesota, and Michigan maple syrup (ordered in declining preference). Never tried anything from the Allegheny's as I don't pass through there very often.

Old Hiker
02-05-2012, 21:51
Wow, I have learned a lot about syrup and the law today, and I love it. I will take real maple syrup from anywhere. I am alos glad to hear about the support of local farms. At this time of the year it is great to remember how good we have it in PA, and how good our neighbors are doing. No farms- no food. I work in a boro surrounded by farmland, yet there is not one grocery store in the boro. the people on foot have no access to freash produce. With the exception of a poorly run seasonal farme market that brings in no urban cusomers.

Sounds like an opportunity for a capitalist entrepreneur. Go, Free Enterprise!

jakedatc
02-06-2012, 00:07
Coming from the land of sugar cane and sorghum syrup, I had a idealized vision of trees hanging with buckets and sap dripping of New England.
I was quite surprised when I came upon my first "sugaring", and saw the lines running across acres and acres of woods and back to the collection point.
Another Rockwell moment busted.

:p

Plenty of small or private places do it the old way. But i'm sure if you were in a decent sized operation you wouldn't want to haul buckets all day either ;)

peakbagger
02-06-2012, 08:31
Hihg volume maple sugar operations are hihg tech these days. The use "microtaps" with internal check valves hooked into plastic tubing that is connected to a vacuum pump to get a higher volume of syrup. Once the sap is collected they run it through a reverse osmosis filter to remove a large amount of the water. The thickened sap is then typically run through oil fired evaporators with several stages of heat recovery. The microtaps are somewhere around 3/8" in diamter and cause less stress to the trees.

Of course a couple hungry squirrrels or a moose walking through the woods breaking tubing can really screw things up.

I beleive Canada is the major producer of maple syrup and there are various subsidies that make it less expensive to produce than the US. The government stockpiles syrup so that the price doesnt drop in good years due to too much supply. Reportedly there have been years when they had a couple of years worth of syrup stockpiled.

Cookerhiker
02-06-2012, 09:04
High volume maple sugar operations are high tech these days. The use "microtaps" with internal check valves hooked into plastic tubing that is connected to a vacuum pump to get a higher volume of syrup. Once the sap is collected they run it through a reverse osmosis filter to remove a large amount of the water. The thickened sap is then typically run through oil fired evaporators with several stages of heat recovery. The microtaps are somewhere around 3/8" in diamter and cause less stress to the trees.

Of course a couple hungry squirrrels or a moose walking through the woods breaking tubing can really screw things up...

Very interesting - so they don't have to boil it for hours any more?

Jeff
02-06-2012, 09:36
In 2012 at our hostel you cook the pancakes, we provide real Vermont maple syrup !!!

jakedatc
02-06-2012, 13:29
Very interesting - so they don't have to boil it for hours any more?

thats the multistage evaporator bit.. probably doesn't take as long if they reduce some water, which saves fuel costs.

Tinker
02-06-2012, 13:33
I've seen the blue plastic sap lines criss-crossing the trail before (either AT or Long Trail - most likely the LT). I was wondering who owned the property that the trail was going through at the time, too.

Blissful
02-06-2012, 14:43
I've seen the blue plastic sap lines criss-crossing the trail before (either AT or Long Trail - most likely the LT). I was wondering who owned the property that the trail was going through at the time, too.

I saw the lines quite a bit while hiking the AT.

Nothing beats the real stuff on French Toast.

Slo-go'en
02-06-2012, 16:17
.

, I heard "I didn't think you had real maple syrup in Maryland.." Like those places in New England, I bought it straight from a farm i.e. no middle man

The Grand View Lodge and cabins here in Randolph sells its own locally made syrup and the bottles are labeled "Made in NH". One day a tourist comes in and sees the syrup and says "I didn't know New Hampshire made Maple Syrup". To which Tommy, an old timer originally from Maine and who happen to be behind the desk at the time says "Well, where do you think it comes from?" The tourist says "From Vermont". To which Tommy replies "So those SOB's are making it now too?"

peakbagger
02-06-2012, 16:22
Some sap trivia. The Brown company research lab in Northern NH was a very large facility. At one point they had a some spare time and decided to help out the local maple syrup industry by trying to find a way to reduce the energy required to boil sap. They set up an experiment where they used some method of vacuum distallation where they lowered the pressure over a liquid so it would boil at a lower temp. It worked quite well to to drive off the water, but the end product was completely tasteless, basically like sugar water. It turns out that the taste of maple syrup come from boioing and caramelizing the sap and that doesnt occur at low temps. I expect thats why they use RO to remove most of the moisture but switch over to open pan boiling for the final stages.

By the way, the largest supplier of artificial vanilla extract was the paper industry for years. The industry switched over to a new way of making pulp in the 50's and 60's and stopped making it. I used to catch the odor of maple syrup on occasion at the Berlin pulp mill.

By the way backwoods producers have been known to add beet sugar to the mix to bump up their output. I believe the commericial grades are tested for it but the small producers who deal in cash apparently have done it on occasion.

weary
02-06-2012, 16:22
I've seen the blue plastic sap lines criss-crossing the trail before (either AT or Long Trail - most likely the LT). I was wondering who owned the property that the trail was going through at the time, too.
One thing for sure the land wasn't owned by ATC (Appalachian Trail Conservancy). With the exception of a few very tiny private parcels, the AT trail corridor is mostly government owned. mostly the United States, and administrated by federal agencies, the National Park Service and the the US. Forest Service. ATC is not a land-owning organization, but an administrative agency with a contract with the National Park Service to run the day to day trail matters.

In places the government ownership is shared with private entities. and especially in Pennsylvania and Maine a lot of the basic ownership rests with state agencies under formal or informal contracts with the NPS.

Cookerhiker
02-06-2012, 17:28
BTW, among all the other maple products available in Vermont, I really liked the maple soda sweetened entirely with maple syrup - and I usually don't drink soda.

And then there's TommyKnockers maple-flavored ale (http://tommyknocker.com/our-beers/maple-nut-brown-ale). I've bought it here in Lexington and last summer the night before beginning the Colorado Trail thruhike, our dinner was at Tommyknocker's brew pub in Idaho Springs - had some right where's it's (the brew) is made. Don't know where they get their syrup. AFter the hike, I returned to the pub, procured 2 sixpacks for the 1,200 mile drive home.

peakbagger
02-06-2012, 17:44
There is a local product called maple taffy. Its positively addictive. It doesnt ship or store well so I have to buy it direct. Its really thick syrup, sort of like cold honey.

SwitchbackVT
02-06-2012, 17:57
Ever had maple butter?

Maryelle
02-06-2012, 18:20
For the last several years Medora Indiana has hosted the National Maple Syrup festival the first two weekends of March. The high hills of southern Indiana have maple trees that produce high quality sap for syrup. There is a commercial processing operation, plus re-inactors making syrup like the pioneers and the native Americans. Also, lot of music from local musicians. Just a fun event. If you are in the area and want to come, just do a search for National Maple Syrup to get directions, etc.

joedannajr
02-06-2012, 18:43
it doesn't matter to mee....what's your point?

Just thought it was a funny sight, nothing more.

Nearly Normal
02-06-2012, 19:12
syrup bucket....is that like a red solo cup?

Cookerhiker
02-06-2012, 20:12
Ever had maple butter?

Yes - yum!!


For the last several years Medora Indiana has hosted the National Maple Syrup festival the first two weekends of March. The high hills of southern Indiana have maple trees that produce high quality sap for syrup. There is a commercial processing operation, plus re-inactors making syrup like the pioneers and the native Americans. Also, lot of music from local musicians. Just a fun event. If you are in the area and want to come, just do a search for National Maple Syrup to get directions, etc.

Great - sounds nice.

Festivals also in Meyersdale, PA (http://www.pamaplefestival.com/) and Highland County, VA (http://www.highlandcounty.org/maplefestival.html)