Sweet time of year returns: Making maple syrup

The sweet scent of maple syrup and a hint of wood smoke hovers over a large pole building north of M-72 in Kasson Township.

This time of year, that's where you’ll find John, Marijane, Dana and Josh Boomer at their Still Point Farm.

"When I was small, we made maple syrup for fun each spring," said Dana, the Boomer’s oldest child and a student at Northwestern Michigan College. "At that time we had all buckets and not more than 40 or 50 taps. It was good fun."

Five years ago, the fun turned into an agribusiness for the family, which installed a vacuum-pump system to transport sap from their stand of more than 2,000 trees near Rose Hill Cemetery. It also complements John Boomer’s other occupation. Along with his brother Cliff, of Bear Lake, and sister Connie Woodcock, of Elmwood Township, Boomer operates Buckhorn Orchards in Manistee and Leelanau counties.

“I don’t wait around for the sap to flow, there are plenty of other things to keep me busy,” Boomer said.

Dana Boomer

But when Mother Nature says it’s time — it’s time. Such was the case on Wednesday, March 21, when the Boomers anticipated an increase in temperatures as the day grew longer.

Here’s how it works:

Like a cue to venture outdoors after a dull, cold winter, trees are ripe for tapping when the sun shines brightly by day and temperatures drop below freezing at night. The warmth of the sun triggers the sap, stored in the roots all winter, to rise toward the branches. At night, it retreats back toward the roots.

“As long as it freezes at night, the sap will run again. If it doesn’t, we’re done,” Boomer said. “We check it day by day until the tree buds begin to swell or until the sugar content is out of the sap.”

Syrup season may last for eight to 10 weeks, but during the period the heavy sap may run only 10 to 20 days.

Translucent sap flows from the Boomer’s maple tree stand to a galvanized steel tank, and is gravity-fed to a gleaming stainless steel evaporation tank. Sap cooks in the propane-fired evaporation tank for hours, eventually turning into an amber color that is accompanied by the unmistakable sweet aroma. Cooking time is dependent on the sugar content of the sap. The lower the content, the longer it takes to cook and smaller the yield.

Upon reaching about 207 degrees, the liquid is removed – 10 gallons at a time – to finishing pans.

“I can control the temperature better there,” Boomer said.

It then passes through a filter that removes bits of “sugar sand” formed during the cooking process and is bottled. The sweet liquid is sold in many volumes — the smallest comes in a 40 ml bottle called a “nip” and the largest is a 1-gallon plastic tub.

“We average about 10 gallons of sap per tap, which equals one quart of maple syrup,” he said.

Still Point Farm usually produces an average of 250 to 300 gallons of maple syrup.

“Last year was kind of weird. We had about 350 gallons which was extremely surprising,” Dana Boomer added.

The family sells most of their product from their home, but it’s also proven popular at the farmer’s market in Traverse City.

Most people think of maple syrup as an accompaniment to pancakes, French toast or waffles. But it can be used as a substitute for sugar in most any recipe. The Michigan Maple Syrup Producers’ Association suggests using 1 1/2 cups of syrup for each cup of granulated sugar. Then add 1/4 teaspoon for each cup maple syrup in substitution. When syrup is used for all sugar in a recipe, the association suggests cutting the liquid in the recipe by half.

In addition, baked goods made with maple syrup should be cooked at 25 degrees lower temperature than the same recipe using granulated sugar.

“My wife puts it in her coffee,” Boomer added.