Inconsistent Weather Makes for Later Maple Syrup Season

While people had the chance to try and buy locally produced maple syrup products, those who took tours got the chance to learn about the process of making syrup.

Bill Phillips has been making syrup for about 15 years with Fort Leboeuf Maple Syrup in Waterford. He says on top of it being a multi-step process, syrup making  can also be time consuming.

"If you were to follow a drop of sap through the evaporator, it would take about 40 minutes to go through," Phillips said.

And Phillips says making just one gallon of the syrup takes about 45 gallons of sap. 

He says this year's syrup season started later than usual.

"Sugar makers tapped trees earlier last year. We were making syrup by the 17th of February last year, and just about everyone was done by the 12th of March because it warmed up and there was no sap."

Because of the inconsistent weather, Phillips says this season won't wrap up until about the first week of April.

"We have to have cold nights, warm days, cold nights for the sap to run. We haven't had any sap since last Monday, because the weather hasn't been correct for it," he said.

When the weather is how Phillips needs it to be, he'll get the sap from the trees, send it through the evaporator, and let the sap become the maple syrup so many people love.