the sap runs early - 2023
words + photos for the globe and mail
Tom Shaw still has the board on which his great-grandfather wrote yearly records of Shaws’ first boiling day.
Although the heart of the season -mid-March- hasn’t changed since 1904, this year the sap came the earliest it ever has in Shaws’ 119 years in the maple syrup business. Mr. Shaw’s first boil this year, the process of boiling sap into maple syrup, was on February 15, with the sap running a few days before that.
Mr. Shaw’s great-great-grandparents Thomas and Eleanor Shaw purchased their land in Oro-Medonte in 1893. It was an old growth maple bush that the couple used to sell firewood. In 1904, their son James suggested they start producing maple syrup.
Mr. Shaw and his wife, Terri-Lynn Shaw, are the fifth generation of Shaws to run the business, which now includes a pancake house and a catering company. They have invested in infrastructure, allowing them to collect sap earlier than Mr. Shaw’s ancestors could. But they see new fluctuations in weather. Higher temperatures and less snow have warmed the trees enough to cause this year’s early influx of sap.
Mr. Shaw uses a reverse-osmosis machine to remove the majority of the water from the sap in an eco-friendly manner. His oil-fired evaporator removes the remaining 10 per cent of the water, creating syrup.
Mr. Shaw says that maple syrup producers have an economic reason to let the sugar maple live its full life. A healthy, large, old tree will produce more sap, and also better absorb carbon from the atmosphere.
“This industry is unbelievably sustainable economically and it allows things to get to that age. We want those 350-year-old trees.”
Tom Shaw checks the sugar levels of his maple syrup at Shaws in Oro-Medonte
Tom Shaw walks through the trees from which Shaws collects their sap for maple syrup
Tom Shaw points out old tap holes in a maple tree on the Shaws property
Tom Shaw stands amongst the trees that produce sap for his and his wife Terri-Lynn Shaw's maple syrup business
Bottles of maple syrup from each boil in 2022, which is the final step in producing the syrup, sit in the window of Shaws in Oro-Medonte on March 10, 2023. The first boil in 2022 was on February 22nd but this year it was on February 15th, with the sap beginning to run a few days before that. It’s the earliest the sap has run in Shaws’ 119 years in business
Tom Shaw checks the sugar levels of concentrated tree sap. When the sugar levels reach 16% the sap will be moved to the evaporator to boil it until the sugar levels reach 67% and it becomes maple syrup
Tom Shaw shows the old tap holes in a piece of wood where his ancestors once tapped the tree for sap
Shaws co-owner Terri-Lynn Shaw (r) checks orders as Madi Korzeniewski and Carley Yeoman help prepare and serve breakfast to customers at Shaws Pancake House
Customers eat breakfast at Shaws Pancake House
Carley Yeoman pours syrup into containers for customers at Shaws Pancake House
Tom Shaw talks to Olga Bitkova and her son Timothy Goncharov about the process of evaporating sap
Plastic tubing uses gravity to gather tree sap for producing maple syrup
A 350-year-old maple tree resides on the property of Shaws