Maple sugaring season arrives at long last

DOVER PLAINS — It’s maple sugaring season, and this coming weekend the second Maple Weekend, is the best time to visit one of New York state’s maple producers.Now in its 20th year, the annual Maple Weekends sponsored by the New York State Maple Producers Association are a chance, statewide, to see how and where syrup is made and to sample and purchase it on the spot. In our neck of the woods two sugar houses will be open for the second Maple Weekend, March 27 and 28. Both Soukup Farm on Halls Corners Road and Crown Maple on McCourt Road in Dover Plains are participating in Maple Weekends.This winter’s colder-than-normal temperatures meant that the maple sugaring season started later than usual and also that Maple Weekends were scheduled for later than usual, the last two weekends in March.“The season started later this year and hopefully will run later,” said Mark Soukup, while attending to the wood-fired evaporator at Soukup Farm.Typically maple sugaring time begins in the middle of February and goes until the maple trees start to bud. This year the sap didn’t start to flow until early March. “It depends completely on the temperatures,” said Soukup. The sap only starts to flow when daytime temperatures rise to the 40s and 50s and night time temperatures are still below freezing. “The season definitely started a lot later than usual. We anticipate it will run later into April, the second or third week. Last year we went to April 11, the year before April 4,” said sugar maker Jay Price at Crown Maple. “The quality of the syrup is really good and the sugar content is good this year,” added Price.During this past weekend, visitors to both Soukup Farm and Crown Maple lined up for complimentary tastings of the sweet syrup, quickly learning that maple syrup is now classified according to its color and flavor under a new grading system. New York maple producers adopted the new grading standard just this year. The revised maple syrup grades are not only for maple producers in the United States, they are international standards and replace the old standards which varied from state to state and country to country. “We suggest you begin your tastings with the lightest color syrup, golden, the most delicate in flavor,” said Tamar Roman in the Crown Maple Tasting Room. The color of the syrup is an indication of it’s flavor intensity. The darker color syrups have the strongest maple flavor. “The color gets darker as the season progresses. The sugar molecule changes also,” said Jakob Berger at Crown Maple. “Right now we’re producing amber.” At Crown Maple, in addition to complimentary tastings of the various grades of maple syrup, visitors can purchase tastings of specialty syrups and cocktails such as Maple-Bourbon Smash.In the main room at Crown Maple children crowded around the maple cream, cotton candy, popcorn and granola tasting area.At Soukup Farm visitors asked for tastings before deciding what grade — golden, amber, or dark — of maple syrup to purchase. According to the New York Farm Bureau and United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) National Agricultural Statistics Service, last year, New York maple producers produced more than 550,000 gallons of maple syrup, valued at $25 million, making it the number two state (Vermont being number one) in the nation for maple production. “We want spring to come on gradually,” said Roman at Crown Maple, referring to the fact that the maple sugaring season ends as soon as the trees start to bud. The budding gives the sap an off flavor. Completely dependent on the weather, maple sugaring season tends to be short and sweet.