Glens Falls Chronicle Serving the Glens Falls/Lake George region; Warren, Washington and northern Saratoga counties since 1980
By Ben Westcott, Chronicle Staff Writer
It’s that time of year again — the sap is starting to flow freely in sugar maple trees.
The Chronicle checked in with three local maple syrup producers — Toad Hill Maple Farm in Thurman, Mapleland Farms in Salem and Rathbun’s Maple Sugar House in Whitefall.
“We’re a couple weeks into it, and it’s been a slow start compared to last year, but the trees have started to open up and t
Why a slow start? “It was way too cold. Last year we started producing at the beginning of February — it was a warmer winter. This year it was just such a cold winter, the trees stayed froze up until recently.
“What we would really like is some good freezing nights, but then those warm thawing days. Weather that’s in the low to mid 20s at night and the low to mid 40s during the day is ideal.”
He said the quality of the maple syrup so far is very good. “Excellent flavor. It’s been mostly Amber Rich so far.”
Amber Rich is a grade of maple syrup.
“The lightest grade is Golden Delicate,” Mr. Galusha explained. “It has golden color, delicate flavor. Then it gets a little bit darker with Amber Rich, which is amber color and rich maple flavor. Then it goes to Dark Robust — dark color, robust flavor. And then ‘Very Dark Strong.’”
Which grade is the best? “It really is whatever anybody’s taste buds tell them,” Mr. Galusha said. “Most of our customers are pretty evenly split between amber rich and dark robust. Those are the two most popular grades.”
Toad Hill taps 3,200 trees.
“We’ve been doing really well,” Mr. Galusha said. “Our business has been going through a growth phase for the last several years. We’ve improved the quality of our products, the packaging, our marketing. We have a farm store right here on site that’s open a few days a week, more hours during the summer. “Then we sell online through our website, and we ship all over the U.S. with UPS.”
Thurman touts itself as the Maple Capital of New York.
Mr. Galusha says, “We’ve got a nice concentration of farms in close proximity here in town that make a nice array of products, good quality stuff — some good producers, and we put on some of the best events that happen in the state, with Thurman Maple Days and the Thurman Fall Farm Tour.”
“And what we’ve made has been really good quality,” he adds.
“We’ve made about a sixth of what we expect to make for the season. So we’re happy so far, as long as the weather doesn’t get too hot too quick,” Mr. Campbell said.
“We’re way behind where we were the last couple years, but of course they were earlier than normal years…We’re optimistic that we’re going to end up with an average or better than average crop.”
He said the best conditions for a good crop are lots of cold nights and warm days in the 40s to 50s range, as long as it doesn’t get up into the 70s and start the buds opening on the trees.
“Some years we’ll make syrup until April 20,” he noted.
Mapleland Farms taps 18,000 trees.
“Sales have been good,” Mr. Campbell said. “We do some festivals other times of the year, and online sales and wholesale to a lot of stores. It’s mostly wholesale to stores at this time of the year.”
At Rathbun’s Maple Sugar House in Whitehall, The Chronicle caught Rathbun’s owner Matt Rathbun on a busy day.
“I’ve got tanks running over because the sap is running so good today,” he said.
“The weather looks good. The extended forecast looks real good for it.”
“We have no control over it, so it is what it is,” Mr. Rathburn says of the weather and sap flow. “But if you stick with it long enough, it all averages out.
“It’s like the stock market. You can’t put your money in, then pull it out, then put it in, then pull it out. You don’t make money that way. Just leave it for the long term and it’ll all average out.”
Rathbun’s taps 7,000 trees.
Mr. Rathbun monitors his crop’s sugar content. “I’ve talked to other producers, and their sugar content’s been down,” he said. “But I’ve checked mine, and mine’s been up there. My sugar content is probably the best it’s been in a few years.
“We had plenty of rain and plenty of snow. So moisture in the ground will make good sugar content. But that’s just an old saying. I don’t know if that’s true or not, but it’s working out this year.”
Thurman Maple Days
Thurman Maple Days, the last three weekends in March, continues March 23-23 and 29-30. Visitors can explore maple farms, see syrup, maple sugar and candies being made, enjoy pancake breakfasts and sample maple treats.
“We literally get thousands of visitors through our sugarhouses here in town during those events, and then those become repeat customers for the rest of the year,” said Toad Hill Maple’s Randy Galusha. — Ben Westcott
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