Like the song goes “Oh the weather outside is frightful, but the fire is so delightful...and since we’ve no place to go...Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow!”
Well, there is only a bit of snow in the southern part of the state, but there is plenty of the white stuff in the northern part. The nice part about this time of year for a lot of syrup makers is they are getting things ready for the holiday season. Packaging all kinds of goodies in holiday themed wrappings. Everything from beautiful glass bottles and little tin cabins to maple candies wrapped in gold. What better gift to give than some Pure Michigan Maple Syrup and Confections!
In order to have these delicious treats available at the holidays, maple syrup producers must also get organized for the upcoming season. Many that use a tubing system will be inside where it’s warm to make a small, but very important part of the system called a ‘drop’. This part attaches the spile ‘tap’ to the rest of the system by using a short piece of small tubing. Producers will typically replace these drops every three to four years. For every tap that a producer has in their operation, they have a drop for it. That means some producers may have thousands of these to replace every few years! Can you imagine?
Whether it’s prepping holiday treats or making ‘drops’, it’s a busy time of year for maple producers. Best wishes for a holiday filled with sweet (maple) surprises!
