Maple sugarin' time

By REBECCA SLOAN
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
KINSMAN -- As a steamy white cloud wafts up through the wooden rafters, the air inside Sutton's maple syrup shack on Goff Street smells sweet enough to eat.
Except this isn't exactly a "shack."
Packed with cutting edge equipment, including a reverse osmosis system, an ultraviolet light filter and a massive stainless steel evaporator, Sutton's ranks as one of the most sophisticated maple syrup operations in Ohio.
"We're probably one of three in Ohio with equipment this sophisticated," said Tim Sutton, who makes syrup along with his uncle, Dick, and other Sutton family members. "In Vermont and Canada where the maple industry is big business, lots of people have equipment as advanced as this, but not here in Ohio."
The Suttons weren't always on the cutting edge.
"We used to make it the old-fashioned way," said Dick Sutton. "The same way the Amish still do it and the way our grandparents did it. We got this new equipment around 2000."
Four generations of Suttons have made maple syrup.
"My great-grandpa used to make it out in the woods off of Route 7," Tim said. "Our [present day facility] was built here on Goff Street in 1978."
Selling the product
The Suttons sell their maple syrup to numerous Ohio retailers and also sell it from their 6200 Goff Street syrup shack.
"If the weather is right and the sap has been running, we're usually here in the evenings making the syrup," Tim said. "People are welcome to come by and see how it's done."
The first step, of course, is collecting the sap, but instead of using old-fashioned galvanized buckets and metal taps, the Suttons have switched to plastic taps and bags.
"The plastic bags hold more sap and are lighter to carry. You also can just throw them away after you use them, so you don't have to worry about washing a bunch of buckets," Tim explained.
The Suttons also use plastic pipeline tubing. The tubes are attached to taps on trees, and with the help of a vacuum system, the sap is pumped through the tubes into large troughs.
"We use the tubing on many of the trees in our woods," Tim said. "You have to go out in the woods often and check on the tubing, though, because the squirrels like to chew it."
After the Suttons collect the sap, it's emptied into tanks and run through an ultraviolet light filter and a reverse osmosis machine.
"The ultraviolet lights help kill bacteria," Tim said. "The sap is filtered three or four times."
The reverse osmosis process removes excess water from the sap.
"The water content in sap is very high," Tim said. "Sap is about three percent sugar and 97 percent water, so there's a lot of water to be removed before you have syrup."
Since reverse osmosis removes about 75 percent of the water, it cuts down on boiling time, which in turn saves on energy consumption. Reduced boiling time also allows for a better quality of syrup.
"The lighter the color of the syrup, the less maple flavor it has. Medium-colored syrup is best," Tim said.
Next step
The Suttons' reverse osmosis machine can handle 1,800 gallons of raw sap per hour, Tim said.
After the reverse osmosis process is complete, the sap goes into the massive stainless steel evaporator to be boiled, and pretty soon the air is thick with sweet-smelling clouds of steam.
Over the hum and hiss of the boiling sap, Tim explained the benefits of using fuel oil to heat the evaporator instead of a wood fire.
"In the old days, people used wood fires, and some people still do. Although fuel oil is more expensive, it's much more convenient," he said.
The entire syrup-making process doesn't take long once it's started.
"It takes about 45 minutes to process the syrup from the time it comes in as sap," Tim said. "We can make about 35 gallons of syrup per hour."
The Suttons have made about 700 gallons of syrup so far this year and will continue to produce syrup for another few weeks, weather permitting.
"February and March are the prime months for making maple syrup, but it all depends on the weather," Tim said. "Ideal conditions are when it freezes at night and warms up during the day. That's when the sap is running. When the nights get warm and the trees start to bud out, the syrup season ends because the trees stop producing sap."
Part-time chore
Tim, who works by day as a truck driver for the Trumbull County engineer, spends his evenings making syrup when the weather is right. Dick, a retired Kinsman Township road superintendent, helps.
Tim put his first taps in Feb. 12.
"I had to wear snowshoes because we had so much snow on the ground," he recalled.
All types of maples can be tapped for sap, but Tim said the sugar maple is the best.
"Soft wood maples bud out sooner and quit producing sap sooner," Tim explained. "Hard wood maples are better."
A tree should be at least 12 inches in diameter before it's tapped, and no tree should have more than five taps inserted at one time.
"Even if the tree is very large, it shouldn't have too many taps," Tim said. "Too many will put too much stress on the tree. You shouldn't need more than three taps per tree."
Properly inserted taps will not harm trees.
"We try not to put the taps in the same spot year after year," Tim said. "That helps the tree heal up from one season to the next."
The Suttons also make maple candy, maple cream and maple jelly.
Tim said you don't have to feel guilty about indulging in the syrup even if you're on a diet.
"Maple syrup is fat free and cholesterol free, so it's much better for you than the imitation maple syrup you buy in the grocery store," he said. "Go ahead and indulge."