Maplesyrup
Margo and Allen Ammons, long time syrup producers of Northport, Michigan, operate Leelanau Peninsula Maple Sugar bush and have been tapping into their maple trees for over 35 years. Each year they tap over 600 maple trees.
In the late 70’s, they began sugaring as a family activity to get their children outside. “We gave most of our homemade syrup to friends and family and they encouraged us to make more,” Allen says, and it was clear to him they needed to find more maple trees to tap into.
Their maple syrup and other delicious maple treats, such as maple sugar, maple cream, and maple-coated mixed nuts can be found at their self-serve farm stand, the Northport Farmers Market and the Suttons Bay Farmers Market. Their syrup is also featured at Tom’s Food Market in Northport, MI Market Suttons Bay in Suttons Bay. Many local restaurants also serve their pure, maple syrup.
According to the Ammons, the sugaring process is simple. You harvest the sap from the maple tree, remove water from maple sap, and concentrate the naturally occurring sugar down to the syrup stage. The sap will generally flow when warm days occur coupled with cold nights. This can happen anytime between January and early April.
“Every year is different, we have to pay close attention to Michigan weather conditions because the number of days sap will flow can be few,” say Margo and Allen. Most producers need to be ready in January, but because it could happen anytime between January and April, they are always ready to tap and boil!
Each year, Leelanau Peninsula Maple Sugar Bush produces several hundred gallons of syrup and to do this they start out with 35 to 65 times that volume in sap. Margo and Allen currently utilize a high efficiency, wood fired sap evaporator to boil off the excess water from the sap.