Sap is boiling early at Turtle Creek maple camp
Maple syrup camp next to Moncton's fresh water reservoir now operated by Fundy Biosphere Reserve environmental organization
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TURTLE CREEK • The City of Moncton’s maple syrup camp in Turtle Creek started boiling sap over the weekend, kicking off a new season under the management of the UNESCO Fundy Biosphere Reserve.
“We had a lot of work to be ready for when the sap is running, which is now,” said Heather Fraser, a retired city employee who set up the maple camp in Albert County more than 20 years ago. Since she retired two years ago, Fraser has worked with the Fundy Biosphere to develop a plan for the non-profit environmental organization to lease the operation from the city and keep it going for its educational value.
The Bay of Fundy Biosphere is one of more than 600 unique landscapes in more than 100 countries around the world that have been recognized as World UNESCO biosphere sites, but this one will be the only one that has a maple syrup camp. This week, Fraser is back at the camp with Nigel McLaughlin , running the evaporator machine and making maple syrup. Sunday was the first day of collecting sap and boiling it as afternoon temperatures rose up to near 10 C. “In our 25 years of operation, this is only the third year that we’ve boiled sap on the first week of March. Usually it’s not warm enough and the trees aren’t awake yet,” Fraser said. Fraser said they have several thousand trees tapped around the reservoir that feed into a central collection point. They use a large container on the back of a pickup truck to bring the sap it to the sugar shack, where it is pumped into the evaporator. The sap appears to be as clear as spring water as it flows through plastic tubes. The sweet water goes into an oil-fired burner, where it boils. Water going into the machine is three per cent sugar and it is boiled to 66 per cent sugar. But this boiler has another purpose. The steam from the boiling sap rises into the upper part of the condenser, it where it recycles back into hot, pure water, which they use to clean to clean the machine. Ironically, the camp is next to the city’s main source of fresh water but does not have its own tap. The recycled water can also be used to make natural maple-flavoured tea.
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