We have an excellent supply of all bottles EXCEPT for the one gallon size (all sold out). All bottles makes wonderful holiday gifts. Let us know how we can help you.

The International Maple Syrup Conference in Bar Harbor, Maine was an enjoyable and educational way to spend four days in October.  Of particular interest to Don and Peter were the technical sessions presented by research divisions at major universities.  The biggest piece of usable research that we learned about was on a new type of spile extension which has a check valve in it.  In short, it increases the sap flow from the tree in two ways.  First, it doesn't allow the tree to pull sap out of the lines and back into the tree at night when negative pressure is created in the tree and the vacuum pump is turned off.  Second, because it prevents sap from being pulled into the tree, it also limits bacterial contamination that limits end of the year sap flow.  By reducing bacteria in the taphole, the tree yields sap for an additional week or two.  Research done by the Proctor Research Center in Vermont suggests that these spile additions could increase overall sap flow by 40% over the course of a season.

 To accomodate the increased sap flow, we are planning on purchasing a Reverse Osmosis machine that uses a high pressure pump to concentrate the sap before it goes into the evaporator.  It works by forcing smaller water molecules through a filter and concentrating the larger sugar molecules.  Doing this can eliminate 75% of the water using electricity, which in turn reduces 75% of the boiling time and wood consumption for fueling the fire.  Research has shown that there is no change in the taste or chemical composition of the final syrup, despite less time spent boiling in the pan.  This is an addition we hope to have by the 2011 season.