Wolf Maple Products is located in the southeast corner of Niagara County. At 9355 Chestnut Ridge Road in the town of Royalton is where you will find us. We are a family run farm business bringing you the finest maple products available today. We are members of the Western New York Maple Producer's Association and the New York State Maple Producer's Association. It all started in 1985 as I watched a neighbor boil down Sugar Maple Sap on an out door stove and tasted it. I was instantly hooked. I went home and started to look for things to make a maple operation of my own. I borrowed a few metal taps, made some of my own out of a wooden dowel, found some containers (including milk jugs and buckets), an old bit and brace, & finally an old stainless steel wash tub to call my evaporator. Every day in March 1 would get off the school bus and check my 50 or so buckets and milk jugs for sap. If full, I would then dump the sap into a 5 gallon pal and carry it to the evaporator. Keeping the 25 gallon tub full and a fire underneath it to make it boil was quite a chore for a school boy. But the end result was well worth it. ln 1999 my wife & I purchased the farm at which Wolf Maple Products is located today. We now have a tubing system in our woods to collect the sap. Although a few buckets are still used around our house. We now have a 2004 Dominion & Grimm evaporator with an evaporation rate of 90 Gallon per hour.
Origin of Maple
The Native Americans are noted to be the discoverers of maple. As one legend has it, an Indian squaw one early spring morning had left a cooking dish under a broken branch of a Sugar Maple tree. When she had returned to the dish that night it was full of a clear liquid thought to be water. The squaw then cooked with the liquid. After the meal had cooked, it was found to be unbelievably sweet. After figuring out what had happened the Indians began to boil down just the sap. They had discovered Maple Syrup. They then boiled the sap down even farther creating Maple Sugar. They could now store, use, and trade with it year round.
Early America
North America is the only continent that is heavily populated with Sugar Maple trees. Back when the "New Land" or North America was discovered, the natives traded their maple knowledge to the colonists. The settlers were amazed by the "Taste of Maple". They then began to perfect the collection, evaporation, & storing of maple. In the troubling times of the Boston Tea Party, England's high taxing of tea and sugar, Ben Franklin had been noted to say that the colonies should boycott all of England's sugar and use in it's place Maple Sugar. Even today Pure Maple Products remain tax-free. "A Product of the Farm".
What We Know Today
The process begins at the end of the cold winter. It is at this time that the temperatures begin to climb above the freezing mark during the day and below during the night. This is when the sugaring season begins.The sap begins to flow upward in the tree towards the warm sun light. The freezing nights keep this process going. When the temperatures stay above freezing for an extended period of time, 3 or 4 days, the sap runs are usually over. The maple season may last for 4 - 8 weeks. When the sap comes out of the tree it is far from what you and I use on the table. It is a clear liquid with an average of 2% sugar content. Boiling or evaporating the excess water is the process we use to make Pure Maple Syrup. It takes about 40 gallons of sap to make 1 gallon of pure maple syrup at 66% sugar content. At the beginning of the season the syrup is light in color. As the season goes on the color becomes darker.
Table grade maple syrup has 3 classes:
Light Amber - Lightest in color & mildest in flavor Primarily used in candies & confections
Medium Amber - One grade darker & has more maple flavor than light.
Dark Amber - Darker yet with heavy maple flavor
Cooking grade or New York Extra Dark- Grade B is darker in color than table grade and very strong in flavor. That is why it is perfect for cooking. Simply substitute 3/4 cup of pure maple syrup for 1 cup of sugar in any recipe. You would also need to reduce other liquids by 3 tablespoons per cup of syrup used.
Come join us
Wolf Maple Products invites you and your family out to our open house: The annual Maple Weekend. "Come Discover the Taste of Maple". We will talk, demonstrate, & taste your way through the maple process. It will be fun for the whole family. including a "Kids Corner" with activities. Visitors are always welcome on weekends during the maple season; March through mid April. For information please call Heidi or Jason at: (716) 735-9102, or email at: jhjwolf@excite.com, or at www.mapleweekend.com. To find us go to: Locations then to: Niagara County. More information also at: www.nysmaple.com.