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Lo Vd POR ERRY STAR -- Wed., March 28, 1979 -- 33 Springtime... .- is Maple Syrup ¥ Janice Aldred helps daughter Lauri-Ann, 2, fo a ¢ mouthful of maple syrup-soaked pancake. il yr » LR oy hy rd Ar NS 3 Le pe 7) a a Fk Hp XN No ag From within- this covered- kitchen comes the smell of deli Tous F Eancakun frying on the griddle. . ~ The Maple Syrup Festival continyes this weekend on the Prentice Farm and also at the Purple Woods Conserva on area. Maple syrup producers in some areas of the province were caught unaware, as recent warm weather started the sap run two weeks before normal. The sap . starts running when temperatures fluctuate from below freezing at night, to Above freezing in the daytime," says John Butler, maple syrup specialist for the Ontario Ministry of Agri- culture and Food. "Tem- peratures are well above last year's at this time." Ontario's 2000 to 2500 maple syrup producers produced more than 140,000 gallons of maple 'syrup last year, according to Statistics Canada. Mr. Butler says 90 percent of the syrup is sold as maple syrup, while the remainder is marketed as taffy, maple butter and maple sugar. Modern technology has changed this traditional - Ontario industry. Sap, once collected in birch bark buckets, is now pumped 'through plastic, 'pipes by vacuum pumps. "Some producers use metal buckets," says. Mr. Butler. "However, .about 50 percent of the producers use a network of plastic pipes to gather the sap from the trees, and pipe it directly into large storage tanks." . Fa . . "It takes about six taps to make a gallon of Syrup," says - Mr. Butler. "The province's largest producer 'makes about 14,000 taps." . Tapping syrup from maple trees will not hurt tree vigor or health. only about 10 percent of the sap, which carries nutrients to the new leaf buds, is tapped from the tree...* = Made syrup demonstra- tions and festivals are held in many locations throughout - the syrup-producing areas. A wagon ride to the maple bush was.an added feature this year at the Maple Syrup féstival-at the | | Boiling the sap in large kettles over an olen fire is the old way of making maple syrup, but as those attending found out i\is also very interesting. Bob Prentice explained to the group about the syrup making process. Here Everett Prentice Farm on Scugog Island. Prentice takes a load to the sap tapping operation.