MIDDLEFIELD, Ohio — James Miller doesn't mind the muddy walk through his Chipmunk Lane property. "You want to get to this little ladder lift here?"
Miller described the process of getting sap from his sugar maples to flow up hill using vacuum pressure. The miles and miles of tubing are connected to two thousand taps, waiting for Mother Nature to release the magic stored in the tree's roots.
The freeze and thaw weather pattern we've had has the season starting early.
"We've been tapped since January," Miller explains. We've had a good run. We had 14,650 gallons of sap to make 310 gallons of syrup." Which is a record for a first run here at Sugar Valley Maple.
This could turn out to be one of the best years on record, according to Miller. "The quality is phenomenal. It's the best syrup I've ever made as far as light, and a great flavor." His syrup registers as 94% clear and is pale yellow in color. It has a much different, lighter flavor as what most call maple syrup and is best used for candymaking. Miller says that dark, rich amber colored syrup comes later in the eight week season.
Maple syrup is a versatile sweetener, according to Dee Belew, Secretary of the Maple Producers of Northeast Ohio. They hold a "Maple Tour of Northeast Ohio" annually, taking area visitors to maple syrup producers all over the area. They even offer tastings!
"At ours, we do maple chili, maple dessert, maple coffee, all for you to taste because maple syrup is not just for pancakes," Belew says.
After a tree reaches the end of its life, it's harvested for lumber. The walls of the sugarbush at Sugar Valley Maple are dotted with holes and the wood stained with streaks of maple seasons gone by.
James touches the maple boards, reflecting on the generations that came before him. "It's wonderful to think my grandfather had probably drilled a lot of these old holes."
For more information on the Maple Tours, click here.