Vermont maple syrup production to exceed millions of gallons this year
By James Maloney
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CANAAN, Vermont (WPTZ) — Sugaring is well underway with trees tapped and sap boiling. The Vermont Agency of Agriculture said this year’s production will be over 3 million gallons statewide.
“It’s an anxious time for sugar makers,” Secretary Anson Tebbetts said. “Looks like the weather is about to kick in. So I think, over the next few days and over the next couple of weeks, a lot of Vermont maple will be made in the Green Mountains.”
Tebbetts, Vermont Gov. Phil Scott, and other state officials made the trip to Essex County, Vermont Wednesday, making the area the “Capital for a Day.”
Scott tapped one of the trees at April’s Maple in Canaan and was seen riding a snowmobile.
“I couldn’t think of a better day to do it than at the end of our season when we’re transitioning from winter to spring,” he said.
April’s Maple is a sugar house and café, many of those who visit get there by sledding, according to owner April Lemay. She started the businesses in the early 2000s.
“It was really important to us that we create something that is welcoming to family and honors tradition,” She said. “So everybody that walks in our door, we try and treat them as family and share with them the tradition of maple syrup and the wonderful flavor.”
Lemay hopes to produce 4,000 gallons of syrup, weather permitting. Tebbetts said impacts of last year’s extreme drought on sugaring won’t be able to be observed until April.
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