The gray plastic spigot is placed in the newly drilled angled hole, just inside the thick greyish-brown tree bark. A plastic pail is hung to catch the sap that will slowly pour from the trunk. Over the next 36 hours, 100 litres of sap will be collected from this tree and boiled down to make 1.5 litres of maple syrup. Remarkable considering an average sugar maple tree in eastern Canada only produces 35 to 50 litres of sap, and that’s over six weeks.

These are no ordinary maple trees. The Big Leaf Maple is the largest maple tree grown in Canada. Indigenous to B.C’s coastal forests, its sap has less sugar content the traditional Sugar Maple or the Hard Maple, but what it lacks in sweetness, it makes up for in volume.

Tapping for Gold

Locals on Vancouver Island have been making maple syrup for their own use for years. Commercial production began in 2005. It’s estimated there are over 600 tappers throughout the Island. Last year over 60,000 litres of sap was collected or the equivalent of 1,000 litres of syrup.

While the industry is small, the demand for the liquid gold is great. According to Gary Backlund, owner of a small managed forest on the north side of Ladysmith harbour, the syrup sells for up to $100 a litre. “We can’t keep it in stock. It sells out,” he explains. Most people are not putting it on their pancakes, but treating it as a specialty cooking product like saffron.

More Flavourful Taste

The Big Leaf Maple syrup is constantly being compared to its eastern cousins, and while some samplers say it tastes the same, others find it less sweet, more aromatic. Backlund states there is a huge difference between the Island syrup and what you buy at Costco, “It has lots of flavour: maple, coffee, vanilla, licorice, carmel blended with butterscotch.”

Unfortunately this year’s season which starts in November is coming to an end. Next year I will be making a trip over to Vancouver Island to attend the Maple Syrup Festival held in Duncan’s B.C. Forest Discover Centre. Judging by this year’s crowds, I had better get there early. For highlights of the Festival visit Don Genova’s Blog and download the audio file.

Tomorrow a treat for the kids - Caramelized Maple Popcorn

Cheers,

Julie

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 26th, 2008 at 10:24 am and is filed under Environment, Food. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.