Houlton Pioneer Times photograph/Gloria Austin
SWEETNESS — Mark Chamberlain, right, watches as Kevin Brannen runs off some maple syrup during Maple Syrup Sunday at Spring Break Maple and Honey in Smyrna Mills.
By Gloria Austin
Staff Writer
Sugar sweetness greeted people on Sunday at Spring Break Maple and Honey in Smyrna Mills. Maple syrup was dripped across snow and then rolled to produce candy on a stick for a yummy treat for youngsters and adults.
“Maine Maple Sunday was a success again this year, with a record-breaking turnout,” said Kristi Brannen of Spring Break Maple and Honey. “I think everyone had a good time. Everyone loves the ‘sugar on the snow’ and many adults come just for that as it brings back memories of childhood days when their grandparents or parents made maple syrup. Although we don’t have another open house scheduled, we are open every afternoon we are boiling.”
It was a seasonable, but cloudy day, with hints of sunlight to walk the Brannen’s woodlot to learn how maple syrup was tapped from the tree and pumped back to the Sugar House on 3315 U.S. Route 2 in Smyrna Mills.
Dan Jacobs, the district forester of the Maine Forest Service, was the guide for the tour, explaining the differences in maple tree species to insects and disease impact to tapping a tree correctly and then explaining how the syrup is processed for consumption.
About 60 adults and children went on the tour that lasted between a half hour to 45 minutes.
Pioneer Times photograph/Gloria Austin
SWEET TREAT — During Maine Maple Sunday at Spring Break Maple and Honey, maple candy on the snow was made for a sweet treat. Enjoying their sticks of maple candy are, from left, Carissa Michaud, Miles Berthiaume and Erin and Meghan Peters, along with their mother Julie.
Just before heading down the groomed trail, Jacobs pointed out that the Sugar House adjacent to the Spring Break Gift Shop was built in 2005.
“With the advent of all the technology over the past several decades, it has enabled sugar makers to get road side, which is a great benefit to them in terms of sales,” explained Jacobs. “Before, sugar makers had to be back in the woods closer to the trees, but now because of pumps, vacuum and tubing and all sorts of technological advances, sugar makers have been able to get out at the road side to make their syrup.”
The Brannens’ woodlot is approximately 80 acres, with the front predominately soft wood before getting into the maple trees. In this front part, there is a good-sized cedar swamp, which is heavily used by deer in the winter.
“There is a lot of deer in this evergreen stand,” said Jacobs. “The reason is it provides them cover in the wintertime and just on the outskirts of the stand, they have food to eat in the young seedlings and saplings.”
Walking along the trail, Jacobs pointed out damage sustained by the trees from the 1998 ice storm, insects and diseases.
“Overall, the woodlot is healthy,” said Jacobs.
The woodlot grows both Red Maple and Sugar Maple trees. The Brannens tap 10 percent red maple and 90 percent sugar maple.
“There are reasons why sugar maple is favored,” explained Jacobs. “Usually the sugar concentration is higher and they start to grow later than red maple so you can tap it for a longer period of time.”
Lining the woodlot is a tubing system used to collect the sap, instead of a bucket on a tree like many private sugar makers may have on their trees.
“Major syrup producers have a tubing system,” said Jacobs. “The tubing system is a network that starts from a small group of trees with small tubes to bigger tubes that collect in the main lines, which are three-quarters to an inch in diameter, which is transporting either sap to a collection point or directly to the sugar house.”
Sap runs when the nights are below freezing and days are above freezing.
“When the positive pressure inside the tree exceeds the outside pressure, sap is going to run,” said Jacobs.
A drop line is attached to each tap to prevent sap from being drawn back in if the pressure changes in the tree.
Jacobs explained the Brannens have new taps with a check valve in them to keep sap from being sucked back in, which helps increase the yield of sap.
“It is recommended by the manufacturer to throw them out each year,” said Jacobs. “But, they are less than 40 cents a pack.”
Pioneer Times photograph/Gloria Austin
READY TO TOUR — Maine Maple Sunday was held at Spring Break Maple and Honey in Smyrna Mills. Dan Jacobs, district forester, headed a tour on the Brannens woodlot and explained their sugar operation.
The Brannens’ tubing system is changed every 10 years and is left throughout the year in the woodlot.
“The tubing gets flushed with water at the end of the year and at the start of the year,” explained Jacobs. “The first couple runs of sap, they [the Brannens] are not going to make into maple syrup. It allows them to clean out the system.
“The tubing is semi-rigid to semi-soft preventing microbial buildup,” added Jacobs.
The Brannens also have installed a vacuum system which help increase the yield of sap between five and 100 percent. Days when there might not be a run of sap — close to freezing mark — the vacuum may pull some sap or extend the length of a run.
Maple sap is between two and three percent sugar, along with other solids. The Brannens have a collection point — a 600-gallon stainless steel tank — at their former sugar house in the back of the woodlot. Once that is full, the sap is pumped back to the main sugar house.
The standard density or sugar concentration is 66 percent or 66 on the brick scale. Water boils at 212 degrees Fahrenheit, while sap will boil roughly at 219 degrees in Maine.
The Brannens have about 3,000 taps and every tree produces a quart of syrup a year, noted Jacobs.
“So, a very rough rule of thumb is 40 gallons of sap per gallon of syrup,” he added. “It takes a lot of sap to make a gallon of syrup.”
The sap at Spring Break Maple and Honey goes through a double process to increase the sugar concentration to help make the syrup.
First, a reverse osmosis machine forces sap with pressure through a series of membranes and takes out about 75 percent of the water, while increasing the sap to nine percent sugar. Secondly, an evaporation process starts the rapid boiling.
“The gradients from raw sap coming in and forcing a higher concentration out in front where the sap turns into syrup,” said Jacobs.
The Brannens grade their syrup with a grading kit (four grades in Maine) that ranges from light to an extra dark amber. Then the state inspector will also test the grade, as well. Factors to whether it is syrup or not are the sugar concentration, clarity and taste.
The Brannens have invested in a license to sell their product thus they are inspected each year; they have bought all food-grade equipment; their product is filtered multiple times before boiling and bottling, so Jacobs said if anyone gets syrup from a sugar producer, like the Brannens, it is top-notch quality and a “really safe product.”
