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. Each gallon of syrup is made from about 60 to 100 gallons of concentrated sap. And also for humans, beekeepers rely on the trees for their flowers for providing honey.”Ĭredit ANNA KING/NW NEWS NETWORK Steam rolls from Neil's Bigleaf Maple Syrup farm in Acme, Wash. 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. “(Bigleaf maple) contributes a great deal to the forest ecology within its range,” McFarland says. Its ecological value to a native West Coast forest is huge, according to consulting arborist Kevin McFarland of Olympia. Sometimes those trees are poached off of state or federal lands. A rare form of the tree produces figurewood - highly-prized beautiful wood used for musical instruments like guitars. Sometimes it’s made into cabinet veneers. If the maple isn’t eradicated, it’s often cut and sent to mills for lower-value pulp. 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, California 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. Neil’s syrup is a drop in the bucket compared to the established East Coast and Canadian maple syrup industries that poured 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. “You will be able to find it in a store near you soon, OK,” McLeod says. That’s why Neil’s Bigleaf Maple Syrup is selling its product to restaurants for about $2 an ounce and why he dreams of big growth. To make just one gallon of finished syrup, he has to cook down 60 to 100 gallons of tree sap. This year, he expects to pour on the sap and produce about 500 to 700 gallons.Ĭredit ANNA KING/NW NEWS NETWORK Neil McLeod, owner of Neil's Bigleaf Maple Syrup farm, keeps a close eye on his reducing sap for out of control foaming. In 2018, the family business made about 140 gallons of syrup. Some are lighter colored, others are dark with the sap’s mineral sediment settled to the bottom. In his pantry McLeod keeps select bottles of his older vintages. Now, he uses a $15,000 commercial evaporator and $10,000 reverse osmosis machine. Since 2011, McLeod cooked in the woods on his property using a 10-gallon pot over a propane ring. McLeod has become intensely interested in how to better grow the West Coast’s native bigleaf maple tree - because he’s started tapping them by the hundreds for his boutique syrup business. The damp perfume permeates his t-shirt and clouds up his glasses as he leans over the vats, inspecting them for any out-of-control foaming up. Puffy steam pours out of an evaporator through several big stacks and into the cold winter air. I meet McLeod in his humid, densely-scented sugar barn. “It’s hard to kill,” McLeod says with a wry smile. So says Neil McLeod of Neil’s Bigleaf Maple Syrup, out of the tiny northwestern Washington burg of Acme. There’s probably more written on how to kill a bigleaf maple tree than how to grow one.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |