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Welcome to the Cornell Maple Program Website

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Items of Interest:

Free Monthly Agritourism Webinar Series

Cornell Cooperative Extension of Broome County is offering a series of free webinars to help boost farm visits and on-farm sales.  The series kicks off on January 9th with a webinar specifically for maple producers.  Classes take place at noon on the second Tuesday of each month in January through April.

 


 

Winter Classic banner

Press Release May 24, 2023

The NY Mid-Winter Maple Classic Returns January 5-6, 2024.

The NYS Maple Producers’ Association is pleased to announce that the popular Mid-Winter Maple Classic conference will return in January 2024. The Syracuse Oncenter Convention Center is the new location for the conference, which combines a vendor trade show and a forum of workshops for maple producers. The conference will open at 5pm Friday January 5 and again Saturday January 6 at 8am. This year’s theme of “What’s Flowing Down the Maple Pipeline?” will focus on the newest techniques and innovations, giving attendees tools to produce high quality maple syrup efficiently and sustainably.

The conference is being organized by a committee of association members who are themselves maple producers, including Lyle Merle, Karl Wiles, Doug Thompson, Tom Kaufman, Dan Weed, Kristina Ferrare, Helen Thomas. The committee is chaired by Michael Grottoli of Grottoli’s Maple, Middle Granville, NY. Educational workshops are being organized by the Cornell University Maple Program co-directors, Aaron Wightman and Adam Wild. The Oncenter Convention Center provides a state-of-the-art facility with classrooms, banquet hall, trade show floor and gathering places for meals and conversation, all together in one building. For now, SAVE the DATES, January 5-6, 2024. We will be releasing details about registration, hotels, and the schedule of the activities on the website https://nysmaple.com/mapleclassic at the start of July 2023.

 


 

New Edition: Confections Notebook

The 6th Edition of the Maple Confections Notebook has become available for free download. This new edition features updates to each chapter including new regulatory information, newly developed confection recipes, and improvements to document navigability and readability.

 


 

New Video

Learn more about forest management techniques for the sugarbush, and how compatible agroforestry practices can be incorporated into a maple operation. This video explaining some of the Maple Program’s USDA funded research was produced by Karen Rodriguez of Wind-Up Pictures. Check out our new video below, and subscribe to the Cornell Maple Program YouTube Channel to keep up to date with all Cornell Maple Program videos.

 

Sugarbush Management – Thinning & Agroforestry at the Arnot Forest


 

New Product Alert – Mappleau: A Maple Liqueur

The Cornell Maple Program has collaborated with a graduate student in the Cornell Master of Food Science program, Christian Mercado, to develop a new maple alcohol product. Mappleau (pronounced “mah-ploh“) is a liqueur inspired by Pommeau. Pommeau is fresh apple cider fortified with apple brandy and aged. Similarly, Mappleau is diluted maple syrup fortified with maple brandy. We have available a Fact Sheet that covers topics on its production, and a Recipe & Instructions document for those who want to get started making their own. An opportunity to taste the product is coming up on July 15 in Geneva, NY; take a look at the event flyer below. Visit our New Product Development page to learn more about Mappleau.

 

 


 

New Maple Calculators Available

Two new calculators are available on the Cornell Maple Calculators page. Both are for adjusting density. With the the Density Blending Calculator, you can get off-density syrup to correct density. It can be used for blending two syrups at around finish density, syrup and sap, or even syrup and water. The new Dilution Calculator can tell you exactly how much water you need to add to a known volume of syrup to get to your desired density. This can be used to correct over-dense syrup before canning, or even for diluting syrup for value-added products including fermentations like wine and kombucha. Both calculators are intended for calculating volumes, and units (e.g., gallons, liters, cups) are flexible to meet your project needs.

 


 

Bird-Friendly Maple

Bird-Friendly Maple is a new conservation based maple marketing initiative through the Audubon Society. “Through applied forest management, bird friendly maple producers strive to improve habitat quality in their sugarbushes to optimize breeding and foraging opportunities for forest birds in decline. The Bird-Friendly Maple project is a collaborative effort to integrate bird conservation with New York’s maple syrup industry.”

“To recognize and support participating maple producers for their good work, look for maple syrup containers with the label indicating that the syrup is Maple Managed for Birds.” The Bird-Friendly Certified Label is depicted to the left. Find out more: NY.Audubon.org.

 


 

Maple in the Classroom

It’s that time of year when the sap starts flowing, boilers are fired up, and students are eager to learn about all things maple. Cornell Maple Program has videos and activity worksheets available for free download for teachers to utilize in their maple cirricula. The free resources are organized by grade level:

 


 

Students Research Maple Beer

The growing craft beverage industry presents an opportunity to create mass appeal for maple flavored beers.  Working with students and researchers at Cornell University, the maple team is developing recommendations and best practices for brewing with maple syrup.

This spring, the Cornell Maple Program engaged a group of seniors in the Department of Food Science to research basic maple brewing principles and develop sample recipes for two styles of ale. Their work provides details on methods for maximizing maple flavor and formulating a high quality brew.  The complete report can be viewed at the link below

Check out our “New Product Development” page to keep up-to-date with the latest CMP maple product experimentation. There you can find guidebooks and reports on Kombucha, Wine, Soda, Sports Nutrition Gel, and more.

 


New Resource for Beginners

Cornell’s popular maple notebook series has been expanded to include a notebook for those new to the maple industry.  The Maple Syrup Production Beginner’s Notebook is available for free download on the Downloadable Publications page linked in the menu bar at the top of the page.  This guidebook provides information on a broad selection of topics essential for new maple producers.  

 

 

 

 

 

 


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