The drips of sap that flow from towering maple trees were plentiful this year, as the cold, wet spring weather in Ontario and Quebec created the perfect conditions for maple syrup production.
“What was happening this year was a sap tsunami,” Shirley Fulton-Deugo of Fulton’s Sugar Bush in Pakenham, Ont. told CTV Ottawa.
While many in Ontario and Quebec bemoaned the winter weather conditions that lingered well into spring, Fulton-Deugo said the chilly temperatures, snow and rain created the ideal conditions for sap production.
“When we get snow in the springtime, it’s called sugar snow,” she noted.
Some maple syrup producers have said they were unable to boil the sap fast enough.
“Every syrup producer that you’ll speak to says it was a record-breaking year,” said Scott Deugo of Fulton’s Sugar Bush.
The plentiful maple syrup stock comes when demand for the sweet stuff has seen a surge.
New research out of the University of Toronto and the University of Rhode Island suggests that maple syrup has shown promise in protecting brain cells against the damage found in patients with neurodegenerative diseases, in particular Alzheimer's.
However, despite the high production, Deugo said he doesn’t expect the price of maple syrup to drop.
“One of the things about the syrup industry, or any farming, is you never know what the next year is going to bring,” he said.
With a report from CTV Ottawa
