The Maple Guild [572]

The maple syrup business in Vermont is booming as a result of increased production and investments from out-of-state firms. Sweet Tree Holdings, the largest single-source maple operation in the world, was formed in 2013. Owned by Montréal-based Fiera Comox, Sweet Tree produces value-added maple products under the Maple Guild brand. At its massive Island Pond factory, more than 100 employees use four stainless-steel evaporators to process sap from almost half a million Essex County trees, generating about 6,000 gallons of syrup per hour.
We visited the Sweet Tree facility for a tour with Joey Russo, its chief operating officer, who we first met in 2013 at his sugarhouse in Belvidere. Joey has been boiling the sweet stuff for over five decades and has a passion for syrup. We also visited Sweet Tree’s Warren's Gore pumphouse and sugarbush.
Shooting date: 4/7/19
www.mapleguild...
/ themapleguild
Music: Kevin MacLeod, "Sugar Plum Breakdown"
[original composer: Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky]
incompetech.co...
This episode of Stuck in Vermont was made possible by New England Federal Credit Union.
bit.ly/nefcusiv

[@ronaldpalmer3233]

Steam crafting does not allow for the same caramelizing of the sugar which gives you higher quality flavor. This is purely trying to create large profit margin‘s. They will argue it all day but you can’t argue with flavor

[@lloydelliott6709]

I agree, cook time is part of the flavour, wood fired evaporator gives you the caramelization, most of my customers are looking for the darkest syrup that I have, consumers are seeing that the older ways of producing maple syrup are what they are looking for.

[@peterbunnell7703]

The flavor is light and it sucks, I worked for them

[@devmeistersuperprecision4155]

I was out of it for years living elsewhere. But I am going home and will be tapping again. But I am going back with a chemical knowledge I never had. The variety of organic chemicals in maple sap is mind blowing! And the wood fired evaporators bring something to the table as well. While I intend to use RO, I am only going to up to about 8 to 10 percent. Then into the evaporator. This is to get the best out of the Carmel and Milliad reactions. You can’t fake this as it’s to complex. I also refuse to use plastic jugs! At the end of the day, you pick up unique and multi depth flavors. You also have a substitute for refined sugar. I put it on everything. I drose Red Flannel Hash with it for breakfast. Haveing spent the last twenty years on Colorado, I got addicted to hot sauce. So I use both. Habanero mango hot sauce with pure maple syrup is to die for!
So leave the bulk packers to supply repackaged syrup for the restaurant and mass market chains. The real deal is from small sugar shacks.
I am also replanting some new sugar bush. Won’t be available for a few years but I hope to be up to 2000 taps. The saplings yield 5 to 10 percent sugar as opposed to 1.8 to 2.4 percent.
Stay tuned Vintage Iron Maple Syrup is back and back with a vengeance

[@peterbunnell7703]

I think the stucknin VT crew should go back and do a bit on how many employees they have fired over the yrs and inquire about the multiple HR related issues within the company. These employees are mistreated and the ones that don't say so have been financially compensated to not say so.

[@stevehardwick1578]

Corporate farms like this will eventually be the end of the small producer, we've seen the same process in the dairy, potato industries etc. They gain foothold politically and pretty soon will dictate standards in facilities that a small producer can't afford to comply with. As the bulk price continues to drop, they will also be dumping their product on the local markets, watch and see.

[@iankrasnow5383]

Maybe, but keep in mind that maple is sold globally at a lower volume than other niche sweeteners, like honey and palm sugar. Both of those still have a higher bulk price per gram of sugar than maple. This suggests that there is a lot of untapped (no pun intended) markets around the world that will be willing to pay top dollar for maple syrup in the coming years, if it's marketed well. But we need more supply to develop those markets.

[@jondunit6232]

Now I know not to buy any Maple products from the maple Guild/ Sweet Tree. Canadians trying to get away from the Federation so they can profit in the United States what a shame. Buy local if possible people.

[@DavidGregoire_]

Then the Federation should stop choking Quebec producers, just sayin, eh.

[@DavidGregoire_]

Also this syrup is way to clear

[@kenhill8178]

The Quebec maple mafia you mean

[@patsysosa3595]

Always buy local