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Maple Syrup: Making the Grade
Every night during the month of March, Paul Boulanger collects sap from sugar maple trees located in 20 different collecting spots around North Andover. With 500 taps, it takes him three hours to gather the sap from all his buckets. In the meantime, Kathy Gallagher is in the sugarhouse boiling sap, cleaning equipment, or labeling bottles. They head to bed around 1 or 2 am, only to get up at 6am to start their regular full-time jobs.
Since March 2004, Paul and Kathy have been making maple syrup at their home. Although it’s called Turtle Lane Maple Farm, you won’t find an old New England farmhouse on their property. The couple lives with their four children, ranging in age from 5 to 14, on a one-acre lot on a cul de sac in the middle of suburbia in North Andover. And you won’t find sugar maples growing in the backyard either. They tap trees all over town.
The Math and Science of Maple Sugaring
When Paul was 12, he tried making maple syrup in his mother’s kitchen. Beyond the basic math---it takes 40 gallons of sap to produce one gallon of maple syrup---he hadn’t figured in the volume of evaporation. His boiling sap created so much steam that the wallpaper came off.
It took two decades to live down that experiment. Now, however, Paul and Kathy have maple syrup making down to a science. In 2005, Paul and his friends installed a 10-by-12-foot building behind their house, bought a true evaporator, and went into business. More than 300 visitors took tours, including several third grade classes. The following year, 500 visitors came. That’s when Paul and Kathy realized they had to build a bigger sugarhouse so that more people could watch the process. In 2007, they dug out a foundation and built a 24-by-30-foot building to hold their professional-grade evaporator, filter press and bottling unit. The building features the all-important cupola with vents to release the steam. It also includes a 10-foot overhang to store the five cords of wood needed to boil the sap.
Last year, the couple bottled 65 gallons of maple syrup, enough to pay for the day-to-day operational costs but not their investment in time and equipment. Turtle Lane Maple Farm, however, has a mission. “It’s not about selling maple syrup,” Kathy claims. “We’re serious about educating and sharing [our hobby] with the community.”
Every time they boil, there’s a sign posted at the intersection of Salem Street and Turtle Lane in North Andover inviting people to visit. The sugarhouse is going full steam every Wednesday and Friday night, plus all day on Saturdays and Sundays, often until midnight---throughout March. Paul and Kathy offer free interactive tours where people learn everything from identifying trees, collecting sap and boiling it down to the history of maple sugaring from the Native Americans to the present day.
“You’ll be able to see our evaporator running and sample sap multiple times as it goes through the finishing process to eventually become syrup,” says Kathy. At first, the sap is clear and tastes much like water, with only 2 to 4 percent sugar content. Boiling in the 600-degree evaporator reduces the water content and intensifies the flavor. By the end of the process, the maple syrup is a thick, golden liquid that contains 67 percent sugar.
“We collect old taps and sugaring artifacts and additional equipment,” Paul says. “However, it’s not like we need three barometers.” They’re just part of the hands-on education that Turtle Lane Maple Farm provides.
Massachusetts Maples
For a sugarhouse directory and seasonal events, visit the Massachusetts Maple Producers Association’s web site. Although most sugarhouses are located in the western part of the state, the Massachusetts Audubon Society has demonstration programs in several eastern locations where you can learn about maple syrup production.
(BPP, 3/08)
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