Maple trees are not the only sources to make syrup. Several different restaurants, and also a lot of mail orders. MOORE: I would sell to farmers markets in the beginning and specialty food stores. Still, David says there is a niche market for his syrups. Right now most alternative syrups are a lot more expensive than maple, largely because that sap to syrup ratio is so much higher. Here on the farm, David is experimenting with basswood, poplar, hickory, sycamore and the beech he’s been showing me. And so if there's if there's a good use for it, then… yeah, just good for the producer.īASCOMB: More than 20 different species of trees can be used to make syrup. Beech around here is thought to be just a really weedy kind of a nuisance species. MOORE: Just getting a little more value out of your woods and especially with beech. They could use their existing equipment to tap other kinds of trees on their lan and make more money. It could be useful information for maple syrup producers in the region. For his PhD work at the University of New Hampshire, he wants to figure out the best trees, other than maple, to tap and make syrup. But it'll certainly add some value to your operation if you can do it.īASCOMB: And that is David’s goal here. So it takes just 40 gallons of maple sap to make a gallon of syrup. The sugar content for good old maple syrup is far more concentrated. Still, he’ll need something like 200 gallons of beech sap to get one gallon of syrup. So this is about what I've been getting from these trees.īASCOMB: David tells me he had more luck tapping a different set of beech trees last year and got a lot more sap. Inside, a couple inches of frozen beech sap. Another tube runs through a vacuum pump covered by an inverted plastic bin and into a plastic bucket.īASCOMB: David takes the top of the bucket. Maple and birch, the sap will come out of the tree without a vacuum but other species you need a vacuum.īASCOMB: Light blue plastic tubes jut out from each of the 5 beech trees in this stand. MOORE: So, I have five beech trees tapped here. But David Moore is turning centuries of syrup making on its head. A skill no doubt learned from Native Americans in the region who have a long tradition with maple syrup. Those farmers were likely tapping maple trees this time of year. The path is lined on either side by stone walls built by farmers more than 200 years ago in the typical New England style. But I recently visited a tree farmer in New Hampshire who produces syrup from other kinds of trees.īASCOMB: David Moore leads the way down a wide dirt path on his farm in Lee, New Hampshire. And like the crocuses that pop up through cold spring soil, sap buckets start to appear on maple trees across the region. BASCOMB: These warm days and cold nights of spring mean it’s maple syrup season in much of the northeast.
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