Why organic Vermont maple syrup?

Many people ask what is organic syrup anyway? Isn’t all syrup organic? Well, I’m glad you asked. our syrup is certified organic by Vermont Organic Farmers.

-the first step of our process started 3 years ago when our friends at Greenleaf Forestry walked our land and did a stand analysis and soil assessment along side Vermont Natural Resources Conservation Service. This helped develop a plan to ethically and sustainably manage our land to enhance wildlife habitat while also enhancing the long term health of our maple stand. After this was done our land was logged in accordance with our hired forester and our county forester, this type of logging is referred to as a crop release. Certain ideal maple trees were selected and other inferior trees surrounding them were harvested for firewood. This prevents disease and infestations of pests. The logging was conducted during the dry season to reduce soil erosion and with proper equipment to minimize tree damage.

 

The next phase of ensuring our syrup is certified organic is the installation of our sap lines. All material used in the process is food grade, including sap tanks. The sap lines must be installed in such a way to ensure the long term health of the trees. A tree must be 10” diameter to get one tap and when trees are used to support the mainlines the tree needs to be protected from damage by the support wire. When it is time to tap trees taps are placed at least 6” both laterally and horizontally from the last tap hole. We only use 5/16” taps that go less then 2” into the tree.

 

The next phase of organic syrup involves the storage of and processing of sap into pure Vermont Organic Maple Syrup. All sap must be stored in stainless steel sap tanks or FDA approved food grade plastic tanks with covers. It then must be filtered and boiled as fresh as possible. The boiling of sap produces an enormous amount of foam and without the use of a defoamer the syrup would spill over the side of the evaporator. Organic syrup requires the use of organic defoamer agents. We use USDA certified organic sunflower oil. Most sugar makers don’t know what is in their defoamer, which is a sythetic chemical based agent. The syrup is then drawn off the evaporator at 66% sugar, and immediately filtered through food grade filter aid then quickly packed, hot in a clean stainless barrel. Where it awaits the next phase of canning.