Skip to main content

maple weekend

Sponsored Post: Be among the first to enjoy maple from this 100-acre farm in Bergen in nearly 70 years

By Lisa Ace


Bergen, NY - Read all about Genesee County's newest maple producer by clicking HERE (https://visitgeneseeny.com/blog/genesee-countys-newest-maple-producer). A small quantity will be made this year, and will be available for sale (while supplies last) at The Harford House Barn & Livery, as well as GO ART! in 8 and 12 ounce glass bottles with the label paying homage to the man that started it all.

Video: Maple Weekend

By Howard B. Owens

 

Video Sponsor
.pane-node-body img {background: none !important; border: 0 !important; margin: 0 !important; padding: unset !important; padding-left: 1px !important } broadstreet.zone(69076)

 

Maple weekend concludes today (March 31). The annual event is a chance for area residents to visit a local maple farm, learn about maple production and the tools and techniques for producing maple and sample some of the items made locally with maple.

Saturday we visited with Eric Randall, owner of Randall Maple, founder of Maple Weekend, which is now a national event, and past president of the North American Maple Syrup Council.

Locations to visit in Genesee County:

Randall's Maple Products
10307 Smithley Road
Alexander, NY 14005 

Junior's Maple Products
9280 Alexander Road (Route 98 South)
Batavia, NY 14020 

Sweet Dream Maple Farm
1116 Reynolds Road
Corfu, NY 14036 

Photos: Maple Weekend in Corfu and Alexander

By Howard B. Owens

mapleweekend2018.jpg

It's Maple Weekend this weekend and next weekend with open houses at:

  • Randall's Maple Products, located at 10307 Smithley Road in Alexander;
  • Sweet Dream Maple Farm, located at 1116 Reynolds Road in Corfu.

The open houses run from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. tomorrow and next Saturday and Sunday.

Sweet Time Farms, at 5680 Webster Road, Wyoming, is also hosting an open house this weekend.

Above, Matthew Stein, at Sweet Dream Maple Farm, explains during a tour how trees are tapped.

mapleweekend2018-2.jpg

Al Stein at Sweet Dream Maple Farm with an evaporator.

mapleweekend2018-5.jpg

Eric Randall at Randall's Maple Products.

mapleweekend2018-4.jpg

Maple Weekend kicks off Saturday, runs 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on two consecutive weekends

By Billie Owens

Information provided by the Western New York Maple Producers Association.

This weekend and next weekend (March 17-18 & 24-25) is Maple Weekend as the sweet tradition continues. Two of the many maple producers in the region are in Genesee County and will be participating from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. each day. They are:

  • Randall's Maple Products, located at 10307 Smithley Road in Alexander;
  • Sweet Dream Maple Farm, located at 1116 Reynolds Road in Corfu.

According to the Maple Producers Association, maple syrup has become a powerhouse crop for New York State farmers. In the last decade, production of syrup has tripled, while the crop value has quadrupled.

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, NY Maple Producers manufactured 760,000 gallons of maple syrup last year, the highest production rate ever. It's an increase of 7.5 percent from the previous year.

The 2016 crop in New York was valued at $31.3 million, with an estimated economic impact of almost $141 million. The value for the 2017 crop will be released in June.

There's plenty of room to expand production because the U.S. Forestry Service data shows that more tappable maple trees are in New York than any other state in America.

The 22nd annual Maple Weekend is family friendly and free to the public. Take a tour and learn about tree tapping and boiling, see displays and best of all -- taste some of America's greatest maple syrup.

A complete list of participating sugarhouses, site maps and more information about Maple Weekend can be found here.

How Sap Becomes Syrup

Syrup is produced as the sugar maple holds starches in storage during the winter, which change to sugars as spring approaches. These sugars are released into the tree sap.

When a tree is tapped, a clear liquid runs out. When that liquid is boiled down, approximately 44 gallons of the sap produces a gallon of maple syrup.

Techniques vary from producer to producer -- some use state-of-the-art methods while others are traditionalists.

During Maple Weekend, many maple producers also offer additional activities including horse and wagon rides, snowshoeing, guided walks in the woods and kids' corners. And across Western New York, all-you-can-eat pancake breakfasts will abound over the next two consecutive weekends.

Did You Know?

Also, there's more to maple syrup than its delicious taste. University of Rhode Island researchers recently found 20 compounds in maple syrup that possess antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, which have been shown to help fight cancer, diabetes and bacterial illnesses. Other established health benefits of pure maple syrup include its calcium and potassium content -- a quarter cup of maple syrup has more calcium that the same amount of milk and more potassium than a banana.

New York is the second-largest maple producing state in the nation, with 2.65 million taps, producing 760,000 gallons of syrup, and accounting for 18 percent of the maple syrup in the United States in 2017.

Besides pure maple syrup, products that contain maple syrup include: maple cream, maple sugar, maple candy, maple jelly, maple mustard, maple tea, maple coffee, maple cotton candy, maple oatmeal bread, maple apple butter, maple walnut fudge, maple suckers and maple butter.

Sweet Time Farm opens Maple Weekend 2016

By Steve Ognibene

1._mg_8875.jpg

Since age 12 Brad White, pictured above with his mom Marcia White, has had a passion for producing maple syrup, which started out to be something to try out and process in a small A-frame sugar house.

Sweet Time Farm grew from being their family hobby of just having a couple buckets to purchasing "Out on a Limb Maple Farm" from Shawn Dunning last year. Sweet Time is located at 5680 Webster Road, Wyoming, in Wyoming County.

Since taking ownership in 2015, Nicole and Brad White has to date 14,000 taps that cross lines between Genesee, Wyoming and Livingston counties.

This year has been a bit of a challenge with the warmer temperatures. Brad started tapping trees the first week January that took a couple weeks to produce maple syrup. It has not been a stellar year by any means, he said.

They have been running operations daily here at the farm where the sap runs to a 16,000-gallon holding tank then passes through filters, with reverse osmosis, and UV light to a another holding tank. Daily the family fires up the evaporator and boils 18,000 gallons or more per day depending on weather.

2._mg_8876.jpg

3_mg_8877.jpg

Currently he was getting 1-percent residual sugar coming from the taps. That's about half a crop in the present year, which takes 86 gallons to make a gallon of syrup.  Ideally 2 percent is the 40-1 ratio needed to be most efficient. 

The farm ships 90 percent out bulk wholesale in 55-gallon drums and the rest is sold at the store. They have a handful of farmers markets in the summer time that they supply nearby, which include Pully’s and Crnkovich's Farm Market in Le Roy, Hurd Orchards in Holley, The Farmer’s Wife in Pavillion, and Rob’s Farm market Spencerport.

When maple syrup season is done, the family moves on to pollenating fruit orchards when the apple blossoms come out. They lease out over 800 hives and use 150 hives themselves. The hives are typically stored down south in Georgia to keep them from the cold weather but they were stored up here this year. 

Two Maple Weekends are scheduled with tours hosted at maple sugar houses across New York State: March 19 and 20; and April 2 and 3. Hosting farms will be open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. those dates.

At Sweet Time Maple Farm this Saturday, planned activities will include an Easter Egg hunt for kids, coloring contest, maple candy in shapes of Easter bunnies, plus more products offered in their store.

For more information go to: http://www.sweettimefarms.com/ 

Facebook Sweet-Time-Maple and their Maple Weekend event.

4_mg_8882.jpg

5_mg_8883.jpg

Authentically Local