Waterloo region maple syrup producers to kick off season with tree tapping
'It's kind of a nice thing to look forward as winter completes,' local producer says
Maple syrup season is about to get underway in Waterloo region, marking a later start than in recent years.
Local maple syrup producers will gather at a farm in Breslau Friday morning for the ceremonial first tapping.
Phil Thomas, a maple syrup producer and a member of the board of the Waterloo Wellington Maple Syrup Producers, told CBC News the tapping is an opportunity to remind people about the start of the maple season.
"In the last three years, the seasons have been really quite early, which has been a problem for some producers because they haven't been able to actually get the trees tapped before the first few runs of sap," he explained.
He says they have jokingly called the annual tree tapping ceremony, held on the last Friday of February, "the last tapping because seasons have been pretty early with climate change and so on."
The Waterloo Wellington Chapter of the Ontario Maple Syrup Producers Association said that the tree tapping ceremony celebrates the first agricultural crop off the farms.
The winner of the annual Elmira Maple Syrup Festival's 'Producer of the Year' will be announced during the event.
Kevin Snyder, president of the Waterloo Wellington Maple Producers, said in a news release that this winter's colder temperatures and the amount of snowfall have made it difficult to predict what will happen this spring.
"You never know what kind of a season we will get, we just have to wait and see," Snyder said.
Warm days and cool nights are what local farmers are looking for. Maple tree sap starts to flow at 5 C during the day coupled with freezing temperatures at night.
Thomas says this part of southern Ontario is one of the larger producing areas in the province and the product here is different than anywhere else.
"One thing that is maybe a little bit unique is that given the size of the industry here, we do tend to have syrup that is consumed within the year that is produced, which is good," he said. "It makes it a fresher product, which is, I think, of value."
Tree tapping open to everyone
The tree tapping event on Friday is open to everyone and Thomas says it's fun when people new to the area or even to Canada come to check it out.
"I know it's an unusual and real Canadian kind of experience for some of our newcomers," he said.
Snyder said in the news release the event should connect the community to the maple industry.
"We see this event as an opportunity to embrace the maple world, meet some producers and learn a bit about the maple industry," he said.
The ceremonial first tapping takes place on Friday at Snyder Acres, 1471 Durant Rd. in Breslau. The event begins at 11 a.m. with the tree tapping taking place at 11:30 a.m.
The sweet and sticky syrup will be celebrated again locally a little over a month from now. The Elmira Maple Syrup Festival is set to take place on Saturday, April. 5.