DNR Question Of The Week: Will The Weather Affect Our Maple Syrup Tap

I have a friend that WILL NOT eat maple syrup, unless it was harvested fresh from trees in the Northland.  I use to think she was nuts, but after trying the fresh maple syrup, it's hard to go back to commercially processed syrup.  The taste is so much richer!  You never really think about WHERE Maple syrup comes from, until the weather could be detrimental to getting it fresh.  Here's what the MN DNR is saying about the crazy weather and this year's harvest.

DNR QUESTION OF THE WEEK

Q: What's going to happen to the maple syrup season with this crazy weather?

A: That is a question every maple syrup producer would like answered definitively. The key to a successful season is having temperature fall below freezing at night and rise (preferably into the 30's to 40's) during the day for extended periods. Producers are worried that the temperature will not get low enough at night to encourage adequate sap flow.

Some people believe that maple trees produce higher concentrations of sugar in the sap when there has not been adequate moisture the previous fall. Also, snowfall during the tapping season means that the next time the temperature rises above the freezing point, sap tends to flow rapidly and heavily.

We won't know how things will turn out for sure until the 2012 season is over.

Info via-Mimi Barzen, DNR forestry specialist