Michigan maple syrup production has skyrocketed in the last few years, piquing the interest of several nearby families and Hillsdale College senior Ben Holscher.
“Syrup is one of the world’s healthiest sweeteners. It has just as many nutrients as honey and there’s nothing added to it,” Holscher said. “I think its health benefits are part of the reason why we’re seeing a huge increase in demand. It’s also just delicious.”
After graduation in May, Holscher plans to move back to his native state of New York and expand his family’s maple syrup business.
“Our family got into the business because we have 150 acres of maple trees,” Holscher said. “This year we have 11,000 taps [trees], but we hope to add 8,000 taps this summer and ultimately aim to manage 50,000 taps in five to seven years. My goal is to be one of the biggest maple syrup producers in North America.”
Currently, Michigan ranks fifth nationally in maple syrup production, averaging 90,000 gallons of syrup each year, according to the Michigan Maple Syrup Association.
“I’m a fourth-generation syrup maker with 27,000 taps, and a pretty good-sized sugar bush,” said MMSA Director Dale Forrester. “I eat, breathe, and drink maple syrup. It’s what I do for a living, and I love it.”
MMSA aims to accomplish two goals: ensure that Michigan syrup is high quality and promote Michigan maple syrup producers.
“We want to help educate and support our syrup makers,” Forrester said. “Have you ever smelled a first crop of maple in the spring? The smell of syrup boiling in the spring is the best smell in the world.”
Bryan Debois shares this sweet passion. A resident of North Adams, Mich., Debois grew up working in the maple syrup industry and will manage 50 maple taps this year.
“My family used to do it for years and years. Even my great-great-grandfather was doing it,” Debois said. “Well, then I worked for a guy by the name of Bernard Crater and he’d done it for what seemed like forever. He used to call down to the high school looking for volunteers to go to work.”
This is the first year since 1987 that Debois will tap maple trees for sap, but he still remembers everything he learned while working for Crater.
“Mr. Crater used to do between 1,000 and 2,000 gallons, and we worked all over the county,” Debois said. “We used to take his old trucks out—they had tanks built on them—and we used to go over to Jonesville Middle School and collect sap out of the park all hours of the day. You can actually drink what comes out of the trees. It’s not dangerous at all.”
Maple sap is only 2.5 percent sugar and it looks like water. The sap is then converted into syrup by boiling off the water, and at exactly 219 degrees, the transformation is complete. Even one extra degree will turn the syrup into sugar.
Martin and Helen Jones of Niles, Mich. know all about the time commitment maple syrup making involves. This year, the couple will tap approximately 1,100 gallons of sap, which will make about 22 to 23 gallons of syrup.
“You can only boil off about a gallon per square-foot per hour,” Martin Jones said. “But if you have an interest in being outdoors, or you enjoy making something with your hands, then you would enjoy making maple syrup. There’s fulfillment in using your hands to make something that God causes to grow in an amazing way.”
A large maple pumps several thousand gallons of sap through it every year. The sap originates in the roots of the tree, where it is stored for energy as a starch. Then, the sap is pushed up the tree and converted into energy.
“We just enjoy doing it together. We also do a lot of canning and make grape juice, apple cider, and soap,” Martin Jones said. “Anyone could pick up a knack for this.”
