From sap to syrup: an update on Quebec's maple sugaring season.

Our resident photographer, Ben, just visited our two new maple partners, Érablière Varin and Érablière Brien, to get an update on (and taste of) what they’re up to as we head into sugaring season.

A century-old maple tradition passed on from father to son to daughter at Érablière Varin.
During the first world war, Eustache Varin left the city behind for a life in the country. He settled on a small plot of forested land near the village of Oka, where he started experimenting with making his own maple syrup and growing various kinds of vegetables. His love of maple eventually took over and the sugar bush, dubbed Érablière Varin, has been passed down to the newest generation helmed by Eustache’s great-granddaughter, Geneviève. Each spring, Geneviève and her parents harvest and boil the sap to make certified organic syrup and maple treats. Much has stayed the same in the longstanding sugaring tradition at Varin, and much has been modernized over the last century.

From Érablière Brien to Bretelle for Quebec classic treats.
In Sainte-Anne-de-la-Rochelle, near Granby, Patrice and Dominic harvest the sap from the same trees their grandfather did in 1956 when he first founded Érablière Brien. With the Briens wanting to focus solely on maple syrup production, the brothers bequeathed their transformation facility to Caroline Bordeleau and Philippe Charest-Beaudry who still work alongside the Brien family to make Bretelles maple candies, butter, taffy, and popcorn.

Maple farming, yesterday and today.
In days gone by, each tree was fitted with a spout which allowed the sap to slowly drip into a pail. When it came time for harvest, the farmers would don their snowshoes or rig up their horses to bring the sap to various sugar shacks and boilers around their property. Today the sap is still left to flow as it would but is instead brought to large reservoirs through an elaborate system of tubes connecting the trees. At the sugar shack, the sap is boiled using an evaporator until it reaches the desired colour and consistency. Then comes the fun part: the syrup is bottled as is, or used to make a host of maple-based treats.

Check out the photos below to get an in-depth look at Varin and Bretelles 2021 maple harvest!

When the days are warm and the nights are cold that's when it's time to get tapping. This year, Érablière Varin installed an incredible 27,500 taps in their trees but this number can vary from season to season. In organic maple production, a maximum of three taps per tree is allowed depending on the size of the trunk to preserve the longevity of the tree.

Our érablières extraordinaires had to wait a little extra time for the sap to start flowing this year as long stretches of warm and cold weather made for a late first harvest.

For the Varin family, the beginning of the season gives spring cleaning a new meaning as the first sap gives the tubes a thorough cleaning as it makes its way through the trees. The Varins have several lots of trees where the sap flows between each one and into large cisterns.

Patrice and Dominic at Érablière Brien use largely the same method but having just one forest to harvest from, their network of tubes (with some even running underground) leads straight to the sugar shack.

Since Varin’s land is so spread out and the harvests are so plentiful, they use fire trucks purchased from the Oka fire department to collect each lots' sap and transport it back to the sugar shack.

The sap is boiled in an electric evaporator as soon as it arrives to remove the water and reduce the sugar. Normally heated using gas, oil, or coal, the Varin and Brien families saved their pennies to upgrade to a more environmentally friendly electric model. In addition to capturing and reusing the steam to boil the syrup and heat the sugar shack, the evaporator is also a massive timesaver since it's more automated and needs less monitoring.

The sap then undergoes a series of natural reactions that give the syrup its unique colour and flavour.

The Varin family conducts a number of taste tests before deciding on the ideal flavour and colour for their syrup. Because of varying weather conditions and soil ecosystems, the taste of the syrup can vary from one sugar shack to another.

The Varin family is sending us maple sugar and taffy cones while Bretelles is adding more cones plus soft maple candies, taffy, popcorn, and butter.