Ohio's maple syrup production reaches near-record level

CLEVELAND - Ohio maple syrup producers have collected what's expected to be a near record harvest this spring.

Statewide production of maple syrup this year may reach 100,000 gallons - nearly triple the output from last year's dismal season, regarded as the worst in Ohio, said Les Ober, a Geauga County resident and board member of the Ohio Maple Producers Association.

"(This year) was just the kind of year when the sap kept running," Ober said. "The biggest problem we had was keeping up."

Ohio has 800 sugar houses, which produce about $2.3 million worth of syrup each year.

While the news is sweet in Ohio, national syrup production is expected to fall beneath 1 million gallons for the first time in more than a decade, said Larry Myott, executive secretary of the International Maple Syrup Institute.

Production in Canada, which makes more than 70 percent of the world's maple syrup, also is lagging, Myott said. Low temperatures and persistent snow delayed and curtailed the harvest in the northern production areas, even freezing sap in buckets in some areas.

In Ohio, perfect weather conditions - a combination of cold nights and warm days, which helps create and move sap - fueled the state's season, Ober said. Production extended nearly seven weeks, ending in early April when the trees began to bud, which reduces the sugar content of the sap and distorts the flavor.

Last year, warm weather caused the trees in Ohio to bud early, ruining the harvest.