WOOLWICH

Mainers will flock to sugarhouses around the state on Sunday to see how Maine maple syrup is made, sample some locally produced maple products and — hopefully — purchase a few items to take home.

Local maple syrup producers say it’s been a tricky year. Most started collecting sap in mid-February, but then a cold snap hit the state, freezing up the sap. Fortunately, the sap has been running again recently.

Maine Maple Producers Association President Lyle Merrifield said overall, he’d estimate most maple sugar producers have made between a third and half their crop, “but I’m very optimistic there’s still a lot of season.”

34 years of Maine Maple Sunday

This Sunday will be the 34th annual Maine Maple Sunday, Merrifield said, and the popularity of the event has grown beyond any expectations of when it was first organized.

Merrifield said many maple producers couldn’t get by without the event. Many of the small producers sell the bulk of their syrup that weekend, so it is crucial that Maine Maple Sunday gets a lot of public support.

Consumers increasingly want to know where their food comes from and how it is made, a trend that helps Maine Maple Sunday maintain its popularity. The public can visit a sugarhouse and leave with the very syrup they see being made.

The maple production industry is seeing growth like never before, Merrifield said — from the hobbyist to folks jumping into 5,000 to 10,000 tap operations. There are about 1 million taps being added a year across the 15 maple producing states. Most still start small and grow, however.

A newcomer

This is Adam Cafro’s third year producing maple syrup, but his first doing it commercially. For the first time this weekend, he’ll open Cafro’s Maple in Woolwich to the public.

It’s been a tough season due to the cold snap, Cafro said. He got quite a bit of sap last Friday and Saturday, and he’s been scrambling to get ready for this weekend. He is a full-time firefighter for Brunswick, works per diem for Cumberland and is a volunteer firefighter for Woolwich. He’s also a new dad and commercial pilot. Working in his sugarhouse and walking through the woods checking on his lines provides a nice break, he said.

Saturday and Sunday, Cafro will offer boiling demonstrations at his sugarhouse on Chopps Cross Road. He’s putting on a free lunch from noon to 1 p.m. on Sunday and will serve hamburgers as well as hot dogs cooked in maple syrup.

“I think it will be fun for me,” he said.

Cafro sells maple syrup, a spreadable cream and maple sugar.

Not many people make the maple sugar, which is made solely from maple syrup, because it’s no easy task. Heating maple sugar above a certain temperature may cause sugars to crystallize forming a granulated sugar. All confections are made this way. Cafro said maple sugar can go in coffee or used in cooking.

“The cream is really good for everything,” he added. People put it on pancakes, toast, crackers, English muffins and more. It has the consistency of a butter.

There won’t be tours of his sugarbush because his trees are off-site in North Bath. He has 130 taps this year — double the taps he had last year — and plans to double in size again next year.

With that, he will add a reverse osmosis system, which will allow him to remove water from the sap, increasing the sugar content prior to boiling it. This saves time and money.

Cafro aims to make as much product as he can and sell as long as he can this season. He has a website he ships product through, but also sells it at farm stands and farmers markets.

The industry

Merrifield doesn’t worry about over saturation as the maple industry grows, as long as the biggest emphasis is placed on promotion of product. Across the U.S., many consumers are using syrups with less than 2 percent of maple sugar product, if any.

There is still a huge market to be tapped there, Merrifield said. Pure Maine maple syrup is vying for the shelf space alongside what Merrifield called the fake syrup makers — some which are using the same bottles as pure maple syrup producers.

He encourages people to look for the state of Maine grading label to make sure they’re buying pure Mainemade maple syrup. Local grocery stores like Shaw’s and Hannaford have a lot more real syrup product than even five years ago, he said.

While not all maple products are from Maine, the state is getting its slice of the pie. Even when it’s from another state, Merrifield said, it still promotes real maple products, “and eventually that will trickle down to Maine producers.”

dmoore@timesrecord.com

Here are some local maple syrup producers open to the public Sunday:

• Cafro’s Maple, 288 Chopps Cross Road, Woolwich, (207) 730-3870. Open 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., with boiling demos and a free lunch noon to 1 p.m. with hamburgers and hotdogs cooked in maple syrup.

• Goranson Farm, 250 River Road, Dresden, (207) 737-8834. Open 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. with live music, maple sundaes, hot drinks, homemade baked treats, farm animals, sugarhouse tours and more.

• Real Good Maple Syrup, 326 Post Road, Bowdoinham, (207) 666-3343, or (207) 449-2654. Open 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. with sugarhouse tours, free ice cream with maple syrup and sales of maple syrup and other maple products.

• Red Door Sugar Shack, 33 Ward Road, Topsham, (207) 522-1646. Open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Small sap house with demonstrations. Syrup available anytime.

• Maine-iac Maple Farm, 56 Mitchell Road, Richmond, (207) 229-2590. Open 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Watch the production of maple syrup in a wood-fired evaporator and enjoy ice cream topped with maple syrup. Sugarbush tours are available too.