Glenn Janzen is part of a small - but growing - group of Island producers used to seeing their product evaporate - literally.

Janzen is one of many Island maple syrup producers in a burgeoning gourmet cottage industry. His Beneath The Bark Sugar Shack on his 100 acres in Black Creek produced around 35 litres of maple syrup last year, and he is in the midst of another successful season this year.

While maple syrup production is generally associated with eastern Canada, Janzen said the bigleaf maple on the Island is a strong producer of sap, and the resulting product offers a unique taste.

B次元官网网址淧eople try and transfer what they know on the East Coast to here; it doesnB次元官网网址檛 quite work,B次元官网网址� he notes as he walks toward one of the 200 taps currently drawing sap on his property into 16-litre jugs.

It takes somewhere between 70 to 80 litres of sap to turn into one litre of maple syrup, he explains. While all of his maples vary in sap production, one of his best-producing trees has a tap that will fill a jug in one day when the flow is on, but thatB次元官网网址檚 a rarity.

B次元官网网址淚f we get four litres a day, if we get that across the board, that would be great.B次元官网网址�

Tapping trees on Vancouver Island is different than in Ontario and Quebec, he explains. Tapping season beginnings in January through March, whereas in eastern Canada, it begins in April.

B次元官网网址淥urs is much earlier, as sap wonB次元官网网址檛 flow through a frozen tube,B次元官网网址� and adds there is a very precise time in March to know when to stop tapping.

B次元官网网址淲hen you look at the buds of a tree B次元官网网址� the buds are just starting and if they are too plumb, the chlorophyll that is developing gets into the sap, because the sap is going up and down in the tree to feed the leaves. When we get too much chlorophyll, it gets a funny taste, and we just stop - they do the same back east. ThatB次元官网网址檚 one thing you can transfer.B次元官网网址�

This year, the taps went in on Jan. 26 on his property. Janzen says some Island producers start as early as December. Sugar is generally about one per cent or less in the sap, but if they can get two per cent, B次元官网网址渨eB次元官网网址檙e happy. (ItB次元官网网址檚) about half of what they get back east.B次元官网网址�

As a result, his sap spends about twice as long in the evaporator in order to boil off twice as much water, which caramelizes the sugar, producing a darker, rich-coloured syrup.

Janzen characterizes the flavour profile of his syrup as B次元官网网址渟weeter caramel with a touch of molasses.B次元官网网址�

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One of JanzenB次元官网网址檚 friends and neighbours, woodlot owner Harold Macy, was the forest manager at the University of British ColumbiaB次元官网网址檚 research farm in Oyster River in the early 1990s. Along with a colleague, he wrote and delivered a program called Master Woodland Manager to allow private forest landowners management tools and new alternatives to clearcutting their forests.

He notes one module was Non-Timber Forest Products which included ornamentals, medicinals, handcrafts and edibles.

In the edibles section was maple syrup, a project he had been pursuing for several years at UBC. He explains the B次元官网网址榩ay it forwardB次元官网网址� mandate was that in exchange for the knowledge and tools, participants would return to their home communities up and down the Island and pass on what they had learned.

Thanks to the popularity of the program, the Bigleaf Maple Syrup Festival at the BC Forest Discovery Centre in Duncan has developed into an annual event.

B次元官网网址淲e also lobbied and received the classification of maple syrup as an acceptable farm crop for farm status, a first in B.C.,B次元官网网址� he adds in an email.

A few years ago, Macy reached out to Janzen - who was one of his students - and asked if he wanted an evaporator. It was originally being used at UBC, then made its way to Salt Spring Island where it was used for about 10 years.

B次元官网网址淚t ended up here and itB次元官网网址檚 just way more efficient to use and it allowed us to produce a volume that we can share now. I donB次元官网网址檛 feel bad selling it; I donB次元官网网址檛 hoard (the syrup) anymore,B次元官网网址� he says with a laugh. B次元官网网址淭his is our third season with the evaporator.B次元官网网址�

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Creating maple syrup takes time and patience - the small-batch process is not for those who want to see an instant product.

Following sap collection, the filled buckets get poured into a reservoir - in JanzenB次元官网网址檚 case, it is an old steam kettle from a commercial kitchen.

From there, the reservoir is connected to run into a float tank, where the sap preheats and eventually makes its way into the evaporator.

B次元官网网址淚f you drop cold sap into (the evaporator), it will kill the boil,B次元官网网址� explains Janzen.

The sap sits in the evaporator until it reaches 50 per cent sugar. As a product, syrup is 67.5 per cent sugar.

Once it reaches the correct sugar content, the product is taken out of the evaporator and into a smaller evaporating pan indoors on two burners on a cookstove. The stove provides a more controlled heat, and as such, once the syrup reaches the correct sugar level, it is filtered, heated once more, then bottled.

B次元官网网址淚tB次元官网网址檚 nice to have enough to share,B次元官网网址� Janzen notes and he places more wood in the fire for the evaporator.

B次元官网网址淲hat struck me right away 15, 18 years ago, there was a significant amount of people that said we do (maple syrup), but just for us. ThereB次元官网网址檚 still that. There actually are a lot of people who do it. Homeschool groups come (for tours of the sugar shack), and some of the parents look at it and say B次元官网网址榳e tried and we got a thimble - itB次元官网网址檚 so much work.B次元官网网址� B次元官网网址�

Janzen realizes his maple syrup is priced higher than those from Quebec and Ontario, but his production is significantly smaller, and his syrup spends more time in the evaporator which enhances colour and flavour.

B次元官网网址淚B次元官网网址檝e had one or two people from Quebec whoB次元官网网址檝e said this isnB次元官网网址檛 maple syrup because they make maple syrup. IB次元官网网址檝e run into 20 people or more at the market from Quebec who says: B次元官网网址榳ow, this is good.B次元官网网址� ThereB次元官网网址檚 the number one clear, and the amber but I like the darker stuff because it has more flavour.

B次元官网网址淭his has been compared to their end-of-the-season run, just when theyB次元官网网址檙e getting down and cleaning out the pan, thereB次元官网网址檚 sugar there that has been there so long that itB次元官网网址檚 so caramelized.B次元官网网址�

A carpenter by trade, Janzen bought a sawmill and began supplying wood for a local flooring company when he and his family first purchased the property in 2000. At the time, he dabbled in maple syrup production but a diagnosis of multiple sclerosis two years later sidelined his B次元官网网址檚ap-suckingB次元官网网址� for the time being.

B次元官网网址淔atigue was my main disabler,B次元官网网址� he says.

Now, with his son David assisting the operation and his wife Sharon (who runs Alderlane Farmhouse Bakery) as support, Janzen decided returned to the B次元官网网址渁ctive, low stressB次元官网网址� operation.

For more information and where to purchase the syrup, visit Beneath the Bark Sugar Shack on Facebook and Instagram.

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