Peter and Don are busy preparing for the 2011 syrup season. The upgrades are part of installing an energy saving R. O. (reverse osmosis) machine. Using technology similar to water purification systems in a home, we will use an industrial level unit specifically made for maple syruping. The high pressure membrane, made by 3M, will concentrate the sap from an average sugar concentration of 2% to 8%. While this may not sound like alot ( maple syrup is 67% maple sugar ), this actually will reduce our energy costs by 75 %. We will only need to process 11 gallons of this " concentrated" sap, to make a gallon of finished syrup as opposed to 44 gal. of raw sap !

To prepare the sugarhouse for this R.O. , we installed two new stainless steel bulk tanks, a 1000 gal. and a 600 gal. capacity unit. To make room in the sugarhouse we moved the vacuum pump outside in a special encloser. We will be upgrading the electrical system as part of our installation.

 Check back often for future postings and photos.

We have expanded our product line at Somerskogen Sugarbush, offering for the first time maple cream.  Maple cream is a pure maple product.  Don't let the name confuse you, nothing else is added to it.  It is made from pure maple syrup that is heated an additional 15 degrees, cooled slowly, and then processed in a manner that causes very small crystals to form.  It can be enjoyed as a spread on toast, an addition to a sandwich or simply as a sweet spoonful.  It has all of the flavor of pure maple syrup, but has the consistency of whipped honey or soft peanut butter.  It is a perfect way to enjoy maple flavor when you don't have time to make pancakes or waffles. 

It takes more than one pint of pure maple syrup to make one pound of maple cream.

We just received our custom printed plastic bottles that we will now be selling.  In addition to looking very nice, the plastic bottles do offer some nice advantages over the glass bottles for shipping, easy pouring because of the built in handle, and increased durability.  These are high quality plastics from Hillside Plastics and do NOT contain any BPA; they are made from high density polypropylene.  We currently have pint, quart and gallon containers for the same high quality maple syrup you have grown accustomed to.  In the picture, you also can see the one pound maple cream container.  This is the biggest size custom printed container we could buy.  A word of caution when ordering maple cream--it goes fast!