Bruce: Tapping into sweet potential

Deirdre Bruce has a soft spot for the maple and a sweet tooth: a perfect combination.

Though it’s on our flag, the identifiable 11-point maple leaf does not conjure pleasant feelings for many BC foresters. In fact, in the BC forest industry, the bigleaf maple is considered a pest: the wood grade is low and when chopped, the tree sprouts vigorous offshoots that shade out valuable crop species like firs and cedars; pesticide treatment is often used.

But as recent UVic geography master’s graduate Bruce discovered, the bigleaf maple has much to offer—namely its sweet elixir: the maple syrup.

For her thesis, she studied the sap’s sugar makeup, an important first step to incorporating the syrup into value-added products such as beer, chocolates, and fudge.

With the financial support of the BC Agroforestry Development Initiative, Bruce partnered with Cowichan Valley’s Glenora Farms and UVic’s Tree Ring Lab. Between December 2006 and March 2007, she tapped approximately 100 maple trees in the Cowichan Valley, Nanaimo and Port Alberni.

Bruce discovered that the sap’s content is mainly sucrose, with higher levels of fructose and glucose than eastern Canada’s sugar maple. The end result? A darker syrup with a distinct taste. “The syrup is delicious,” she boasts. And she isn’t the only one who likes Island syrup. In February 2008, 1,400 people turned out to the Bigleaf Maple Syrup Festival in Duncan to taste syrup samples, watch tapping demonstrations and participate in educational tours.

“I think it is pretty neat to be a part of something in forestry that people are excited about. There aren’t a lot of fun, exciting stories in forestry right now,” says Bruce. She received much enthusiasm and support from private woodlot and landowners, and many volunteers helped with the tapping.

“There’s a real disconnect between research and regular people. I was really interested in bridging that gap,” she says.

Further research is required to assess the socio-economic potential of bigleaf syrup, but she is hopeful. Bruce likes the community aspect of maple tapping and how people of all ages can get outdoors and participate in the winter activity. Two Island breweries, Craig Street Brew Pub and Spinnakers, are interested in using bigleaf syrup for making beer, and with a unique, home-grown product, Bruce believes the cottage industry will attract followers of the 100-mile Diet and the Slow Food movement.

For now, Bruce is working with the Pacific Forestry Centre with plants and greenhouses, but she plans to stay involved with the syrup industry. She hopes to make an educational video and run workshops. And with the demand for syrup on the rise (nearly all the syrup produced from Bruce’s trees sold at the festival), she’ll need to get out there and keep tapping.