Sweet Talk: All Things Maple

This month, Adam interviews Dr. Tim Perkins, director of UVM's Proctor Maple Research Center. Topics range from best tapping practices and techniques, to the truth about tapping myths, and updates on the development of a new kind of spout. Just in time for tapping season.

You can find plenty of recent maple research findings and the newly published 3rd edition of the North American Maple Syrup Producers Manual at mapleresearch.org.

Episode Produced by Ailis Clyne.

Music - Long and Low Cloud, Funk and Flash, both by Blue Dot Sessions (www.sessions.blue)

Aaron interviews Derek Simmonds, a Business Development Specialist at the NYS Center of Excellence for Food and Agriculture, Cornell AgriTech. They talk about the resources available for product development at the Center of Excellence in Geneva, NY, and about the steps a business owner should take when developing a new food product. Check out what the Center of Excellence has to offer at https://cals.cornell.edu/cornell-agritech/partners-centers-institutes/center-excellence-food-agriculture.

Have a question for a maple specialist? To submit your question, visit the Cornell Maple Program website at https://blogs.cornell.edu/cornellmaple/sweettalk/, or if using the Spotify mobile app, simply scroll down now to submit directly.

Episode produced by Ailis Clyne.

Music - Long and Low Cloud, Funk and Flash, both by Blue Dot Sessions (www.sessions.blue)

Aaron interviews Mark Cannella who is an associate professor at the University of Vermont where he serves as the Farm Business Management Specialist. The interview covers many of the challenges facing maple producers regarding economics and business management, but it also provides a ton of information on the resources available to producers coming out of the University of Vermont Extension Program. Mark Cannella has developed much of this available material which can be found at www.maplemanager.org

Episode produced by Ailis Clyne.

Music - Long and Low Cloud, Funk and Flash, both by Blue Dot Sessions (www.sessions.blue)

In this episode, Adam interviews Mike Rechlin who is the Maple Commodities Specialist at Future Generations University in West Virginia. Instead of the usual maple sweet talk, today they discuss walnut syrup, an equally sweet but newer alternative tree syrup whose production poses some unique challenges. Adam also discloses some of his most recent research findings while experimenting with making beech syrup at the Uihlein Forest. The world of alternative tree syrups is vast, with many more still to explore in future episodes.

Episode produced by Ailis Clyne.

Music - Long and Low Cloud, Funk and Flash, both by Blue Dot Sessions (www.sessions.blue)

In this episode, Adam interviews representatives from two major bulk maple syrup buying and packing operations: Butternut Mountain Farm in Vermont, and Bascom Maple Farms in New Hampshire. Both businesses have their own sugaring operations, on top of purchasing syrup from other producers and distributing it to customers like major grocery store chains and large food manufacturing businesses. Adam learns about common issues bulk buyers come across in the maple industry, which processing grade syrups can be used in which manufacturing settings, and about the challenges of the bulk packing side of the maple business. Learn more about the hugely important role that packers play in the maple industry.

Episode produced by Ailis Clyne.

Music - Long and Low Cloud, Funk and Flash, both by Blue Dot Sessions (www.sessions.blue)

In this episode, Aaron interviews two guests: Catherine Belisle, PhD, the new food scientist at the Cornell Maple Program, and Christian Mercado Acevedo, MFS, a Cornell Food Science graduate and food and beverage consultant. Together, they developed a new maple product this year called Mappleau, an after-dinner drink who's name and production methods were inspired by Pommeau. 

You can reach Christian at www.caldamentum.com

To access the free Mappleau production fact sheets, visit the New Product Development webpage at www.cornellmaple.com (https://blogs.cornell.edu/cornellmaple/product-development-and-research/)

Episode produced by Ailis Clyne

Music - Long and Low Cloud, Funk and Flash, both by Blue Dot Sessions (www.sessions.blue)

In this episode, Aaron and Adam answer some of the most frequently asked questions they receive from both maple producers and maple consumers. This is the first Q&A style episode of the series, and we intend to produce more. To have your question featured on the show, visit the Sweet Talk webpage at CornellMaple.com (https://blogs.cornell.edu/cornellmaple/sweettalk/).

Episode produced by Ailis Clyne

Music - Long and Low Cloud by Blue Dot Sessions (www.sessions.blue)

This month, Aaron Wightman interviews two guests with perspectives on urban sugaring opportunities. First is Kristina Ferrare, the Forestry Program Specialist at Cornell Cooperative Extension - Onondaga County, based in Syracuse, NY. After learning about the educator's perspective on urban sugaring, Aaron seeks out a practitioner in a suburban neighborhood in Ithaca, NY. Greg Albrecht is the founder of Roat Street Sugarworks, a unique community sugaring operation with participation across his neighborhood.

Episode produced by Ailis Clyne

Music - Long and Low Cloud, Funk and Flash, both by Blue Dot Sessions (www.sessions.blue)

This month, Adam Wild interviews Mark Isselhardt, Maple Specialist at the University of Vermont Extension. Mark has a lot of experience tasting and assessing maple syrup from his time educating maple producers at grading schools, judging syrups at maple contests, and researching impacts to syrup quality at the Proctor Maple Research Center. We hope his insight will help all you sugarmakers improve upon your syrup quality this maple season.

https://www.uvm.edu/extension/agriculture/maple

Read more about the research on "metabolism" off-flavor: https://mapleresearch.org/search/?_sf_s=metabolism

Episode produced by Ailis Clyne

Music - Long and Low Cloud, Funk and Flash, both by Blue Dot Sessions (www.sessions.blue)

This month, Aaron Wightman interviews two burgeoning young sugarmakers of the maple industry's next generation - Damian Hill of Shaver-Hill Maple Farm in Harpersfield, NY, and Andrea Caluori of Little Mouse Farm & Studio in Ashfield, MA. Damian grew up in a maple producing family and is the third generation of Hills to continue growing the business. Andrea is a first-generation farmer and an artist who grew up in the Bronx and found her way to the welcoming world of the maple industry. While Shaver-Hill Farm specializes in maple - both in food products and as an equipment dealer - Little Mouse Farm is a small, but highly diversified new business.

Andrea is a graduate of the Cornell Maple Program's Maple Camp - a four-day, immersive program designed to provide hands-on learning and expert advice to both complete beginners and those looking to improve their operations.

Episode produced by Ailis Clyne

Music - Long and Low Cloud, Funk and Flash, both by Blue Dot Sessions (www.sessions.blue)