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A more diverse sugarbush (a forest of trees tapped for sap) means lower risk if one species is impacted and would offer greater climate resilience. The syrup industry’s primary reliance on one tree species puts it risk from extreme climate events, pests and pathogens, market changes and other uncertainties. The production of alternative syrups also offers ecological benefits. Read the INSPIRED Forestry Research Report Today! And alternative syrups mean new opportunities across the Granite State, where beech, white birch and yellow birch rank in the top 10 most abundant tree species (along with red and sugar maple), according to the NH Division of Forests and Lands. Twenty years ago, there were no commercial birch syrup producers in New England. Partly in response to market demand, alternative syrup producers are increasing. “Birch syrup has such an intriguing taste that’s so different from maple syrup,” he added, “so I began exploring what other types of trees could be used for syrup production.”Īnd although many of the non-maple trees that Moore taps-by drilling a small hole into a tree and attaching a sap collection system-contain sap with a much lower sugar concentration than maple, the syrup produced from the sap of those “alternative” trees can fetch four or five times more (about $300 per gallon) as maple syrup does. “Paper birch ( Betula papyrifera) sap had, on average, about twice the sugar content as saps from sweet birch ( Betula lenta) and yellow birch ( Betula alleghaniensis).”įrom top left and clockwise: Photos of an American beech, a tulip poplar (not used in syrup production for this research) and an American sycamore trees with sap sensors attached to them.
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“When I was an undergraduate at UNH, I did a research project on birch syrup during my senior year to determine which New England birch species was best for syrup production,” said Moore. Moore, a longtime syrup producer, previously produced birch and sycamore syrup commercially for the Lee-based business The Crooked Chimney. Moore co-authored a paper - along with a team of current and former UNH researchers - that appeared in the NH Agricultural Experiment Station’s INSPIRED Forestry research report. New research led by New Hampshire Agricultural Experiment Station scientists examines how tapping non-maple trees-for example, birch and beech, which the Granite State also has in abundance-could increase the economic resiliency of the state’s syrup producers and offer intriguing alternatives to breakfast staples, while providing important ecosystem benefits.ĭoctoral candidate David Moore, a member of the UNH Ecohydrology Lab, led the research, which focused on identifying best management practices for harvesting sap and producing syrup from a variety of deciduous trees native to New Hampshire.
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Soon, however, maple syrup may have some friendly competition.
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In 2022, three New England states-Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont-and New York were in the top six states producing maple syrup. Long before the snow melts and the heavy coats get stored for the season, the quintessential signs that spring is not too far away in New Hampshire are maple trees that become dotted with buckets and the coming alive of the sugar shacks that have been hibernating for many months.