The problem with a lot of the used evaporator pans out there is that they are lead soldered which is considered to be a health risk.

We want to provide our consumers with the best quality product that we can so I thought I would post some of the research that I have done in this respect.

First I found this great consumer report.

http://blogs.consumerreports.org/safety/2007/10/testing-the-lea.html

It rates 4 different lead inspectors and how they work, the following is taken from the consumer reports website:

“Homax Lead Check, $8
Lead Check Household Lead Test Kit, $18.45
These two kits consist of cigarette-shaped swabs, made by the same company, that turn pink when they detect lead. They were the easiest to use and identified accessible lead in toys, ceramic dishware, and vinyl or plastic. If lead concentrations are low, these swabs can take up to two hours to change color, but in our tests high concentrations produced immediate results. The eight-swab Lead Check Household Lead Test Kit pack is a better bargain than the Homax two-swab pack. Its packaging was less susceptible to being crushed.

Lead Inspector, $13
Swabs turn yellow, brown, gray, or black if lead is detected. It can take up to 10 minutes for a color change to occur at low lead levels. The kit, with eight tests, identified accessible lead and might be a good choice for painted metal jewelry. It also might be superior for pink or red items, because if those shades of paint bled onto a Lead Check swab, it might falsely appear to be positive. Have good ventilation and wear gloves to protect skin from chemicals.

First Alert, $13
The four test swabs provided are similar in design to those used in Lead Inspector. But we experienced some false negatives for accessible lead.

Pro-Lab Lead Surface, $10

This kit was less sensitive and more difficult to use. Two small pieces of treated paper are cut to create six tests. The paper is moistened and rubbed on the object, but we found the paper often fell apart before the two-minute rubbing time was over.”

Both Lead Inspector and First Alert have videos which showcase these kits

The following is a copy of the email I sent to all the these lead testing kit suppliers:

Hello

My name is Dave Chapman and I am a maple syrup producer. Over the past few years our industry has been phasing out lead soldered pans for producing maple syrup.

We are currently looking to upgrade our equipment but want to make certain that any used equipment  we buy is lead solder free.

does the testing kit that you carry have the ability to do this.

Thanks and I hope to hear from you soon.

If anyone out there knows of another company that provides these testing kits or you have had experience in these matters please let us know.

I talked to all the maple syrup producers at the show, everyone had great insight and was very helpful. Two booths let really talk their ear off and even let me shoot some video. The first was from White Meadows farms. Richard was really nice and gave me some great tips on maple candy making. It turns out that they won best maple candy at the show last year so I am sure he knows what he’s talking about.

Next I had a chance to talk to Tracy Moore at Everything Maple. I have talked about her in an earlier post. She really went through everything with me and was happy to do so. She even gave me a few books to about packaging maple syrup. The great thing was the she knew all of the maple syrup producers from the island. You can really tell in the video that she is passionate about what she does. It was great to get to know other members of the Ontario maple syrup community outside of the island.

Now I know that the winter fair was a months ago but I have not had a chance to get everything off the camera until last week. I also want to apologize for the shakiness of the camera and the strange viewing angles. It was pretty loud and I wanted to make sure I got the sound I needed. Anyway, now that I have built it up, please enjoy.

Well tomorrow is a very exiting day for sap to syrup. It is the first Christmas show that I have taken part in. I am really looking forward to showcasing all our products. The Toronto Business Development Center was part of a program I was involved in. They help entrepreneurs get businesses started and do a great job of it. This is how I moved my interactive business forward.

They have a blog about the upcoming show and I have a small write up in it. Link

Another great thing that has happened is that we have a new logo… Well not really NEW, more like our FIRST.

It was designed by a very good friend of mine Jesse Gibson who has worked as a professial designer for many years. You know why branding is so expensive?

It’s worth it.

new logo

I  have plans to redesign the website and add in more interactivity.

The site looks amazing and is much easier to navigate, really an amazing job.

Tig has some really great stories and ideas on his website which is why he is number one on my blog roll. I love his last idea of putting maple syrup in kegs, I really hope he figures it out.

Love the new URL and the site design Tig, keep on boiling!

we put about that much wood in the archway every 15-20 minutes, that means that we are firing the boiler every 7-10 minutes. This is of course depending on the different types of what and how dry it is. This year was a bit of a disaster as we ran out of wood and had to spend some of the time burning some not so dry popular.

Mike stumbled across a great website called http://www.woodheat.org This website is full of information in regards to firewood.  My favorite part of the website is the energy per air dried cord or in thousands of BTUs. This gives a list of the most efficient types of firewood to use.

I thought that the best wood to use was iron wood, I might have the wrong name for it though. As I can’t find it anywhere in Ontariotrees.com.  it’s very dense wood that doesn’t grow very large, it has kind of a flaky bark as he gets older.  Maybe somebody can help me.  The bark looks a bit like Black Ash when it’s older, but I don’t think that’s right.

Alan had great question about spiles and pointed me into the direction of the University of Vermont website. Apparently there has been a new innovation called to check valve spout. It works like this if the vacuum system is turned on than a little ball that’s inside of the spiles is pulled away from the tree allowing the sap to come out. When the vacuum system is turned off the little ball rolls in front of the opening and blocks bacteria from getting back to the hole.   Alan’s concerns seem to be that you’d put excess pressure on the tree by not letting the natural bacteria seal the hole thus taking more sap than the tree is able to lose. Read the full story here.

We will see if this spile will even work this year.  I suspect if you are going to try new product that says it’s going to take more sap from the tree then a producer would tend to under tap.. Most of the syrup produces that I’ve talked to basically baby their bush, if there is something that has the potential to take more sap out of the tree I’m sure it would be tried in moderation. I’m sure it was the same when they came out with a vacuum system. If it works for these innovators than I am sure it is going to catch on.

There’s also been a number of innovations that tried to solve this bacteria problem. Leader Evaporators, which is the company that is selling these new spiles, already has something on their website to try to combat the problem of bacteria.

“designed to be an inexpensive bacteria free throw-away fitting to put in the tree for maple sugar makers looking for maximum production every year.  This rugged extension features a female cup which will accept almost every 19/64 and 5/16 diameter spout on the market”

So will this new little device work, who’s to say?  There is also another type of this spile that we are looking into for our bush, it is a stainless steel spile. Here’s a video of Bill Smith and Keith Brown discussing it.

I did however get a chance to go into the post office and I found out exactly how much one liter of maple syrup weighs.

I’ve also been trying to get in contact with all the different farmers markets that are around Toronto. I contacted an Anne Freeman at Dufferin and Grove Park. She was very helpful  even though she  they already had a maple syrup producer that was selling product. She said that she would pass my name along to some of the other Farmers markets.

I found man named Chad at the Trinity Bellwoods open market.  He was an incredible wealth of knowledge explains me about how to get involved in these farmer markets and what it was like selling maple syrup in a downtown area. (insadently he is the one that sells his syrup at Dufferin) It is nice to know is that my prices are pretty much dead on with his.

That’s the nice thing about the maple syrup industry, most producers are happy to help each other out which is fabulous for a newcomer like me, thanks again Chad!

Stay tuned for an update on Mike in the Bush. I had a nice long chat with him today but we won’t get any real news until about Friday a very special visitor is coming to take a look at our operation.

More info on the Famers markets in Toronto.

I’ve also noticed that there is maple syrup in this  area that is certified organic. I don’t really know how to go about getting my maple syrup certified organic but I can say it was probably made more “organically” than any other type of syrup in the area (wood fired).

I have uploaded a picture of all of the stuff I brought back from St. Joseph Island. I also finished up the labels that I’m going to put on the maple syrup to drive people to the website so they can see exactly where this maple syrup comes from. I think this is a real selling feature to the product.

The 250 mL bottle seemed to be the most popular but as it turns out I only have one left. This means that I’m most likely going to have to break up some of my great big 4 L jugs into 250 mL.  Fortunately  I have all the equipment I need to do this.  I have also found a comprehensive manual which gives the process of hot packing in detail.

In and I’ve been thinking about is what we are going to name the new Sugarbush. I was thinking about keeping the same name as the URL that I have now,  sap to syrup  I still want to get some feedback and not necessarily do with that in 100%.

Most likely will come up with a short list and then maybe have a poll  to see which one wins.

Mike has a good priceless together  of all the equipment that were  going to need. It’s pretty good starting point and I think that we can cover a pretty comfortably.

You can listen to the full audio of the show, part II.

There is a serious reason that the price of maple syrup is so high, last year was a pretty bad year. A number of farms did not make much syrup and this caused there to be a decrees in supply, this in turn drove the price up.

Also people that don’t buy real maple syrup will not be really missing anything as they don’t value it at all. This reminds me of some friends’ kids who were visiting and decided to put real maple syrup on their pancakes rather than fake stuff. It was so sweat that they ending up throwing it out, what a waste.

It’s not that big a deal to buy maple syrup as it is not something you buy everyday. You buy a 4L juge and it can last you the whole year.

I could go on and on about this but I won’t as I think this segment of the program was put in to lighten things up, It has to be a joke.