"However, Washington State Department of Agriculture has been wonderful, they have a helpline that you can call," Wilson says. Food and Drug Administration and the Washington State Department of Agriculture. The university's camouflage-painted pickup now called the "Sugar Sled" will collect the sap from a main tank in the woods and drive the juice downhill to the school's "Sugar Shack" for further processing.Įttl says he hopes the concentrated bigleaf maple syrup will be for sale in the university bookstore later this winter.Īmy Wilson is developing a fresh label and hammering out the nutritional facts with the U.S. Greg Ettl, a forest ecologist for the University of Washington, shows off the tubing that will carry bigleaf maple sap down the hill using gravity at UW's Pack Forest. The scientists seek to understand the ecology of the trees and demonstrate the profitability of the product. Recently, UW's School of Environmental and Forest Sciences landed a near -half-million dollar federal grant to fund a study of tapping sap from bigleaf maple trees across the state. There's no trail you have to slog through slick, wet brush, up a steep bank on the cusp of a deep ravine. Rainier, Greg Ettl leaves his keys on the dash just in case something happens to him on the hike.Įttl is a forest ecologist and director of Pack Forest. Then he compares the low base of the tree to something like human feet, growing out wide at the ground: "Sort of holding onto the Earth."ĭeep in the University of Washington's Pack Forest, in the foothills of Mt. "The height of the tree, the width of the canopy, the structure of the tree, the scaffolding of the tree. "They are a very special tree," McFarland says in appreciation. ![]() Some of McFarland's favorite bigleaf trees grow in Washington's Hoh Rainforest on the Olympic Peninsula. And there's quite an industry to forage and pick them for floral arrangements and crafts. Many lichens, ferns and mosses also grow in the branches of an older bigleaf maple, he says. And also for humans, beekeepers rely on the trees for their flowers for providing honey." ![]() They are very good with holding soil, preventing erosion. "In terms of wildlife habitat, the flowers, which emerge very early in the spring, provide a considerable amount of food for insects and birds. " contributes a great deal to the forest ecology within its range," McFarland says. The Salt Sweet Talk: FDA's 'Added Sugar' Label Hits Sour Note With Maple Syrup Makers The bigleaf maple, with its broad-shading canopy, is often eradicated so more Douglas fir will grow. But the West Coast timber industry is largely set up to harvest Douglas fir. It grows from San Diego, Calif., all the way north to British Columbia's Vancouver Island. The bigleaf maple has a broad canopy and is native to the West Coast. But this fresh Northwest product is finding a home with top chefs. McLeod's syrup is a drop in the bucket compared to the established East Coast and Canadian maple syrup industries that pour out a combined 15 million gallons' worth each year. "You could go find a very pristine piece of property full of maples, tap it and have your house paid off in just a few years," he says. He says the goal is to plant a lot more trees on the farm and find new tapping ground. Devin Day, McLeod's son, is the company's front man, charming chefs with syrup samples. ![]() ![]() Neil McLeod, owner of Neil's Bigleaf Maple Syrup farm, keeps a close eye on his reducing sap for out of control foaming.
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