Sweet Talk: All Things Maple

This month, Adam interviews Cornell Maple Program colleague Dr. Catherine Monserrate. Catherine is the resident Food Scientist at the Cornell Maple Program, with a satellite office in Geneva, NY at the Cornell Food Venture Center. She helps maple producers make sure their processes and recipes are in compliance with food safety regulations, and that they consistently result in high quality maple products.

In this conversation, Adam and Catherine discuss all things Good Manufacturing Practices (GMPs), including a new online course: BF 154 Good Manufacturing Practices for Sugarhouses. This course is asynchronous and self-paced and is hosted on the Cornell Small Farms website. Learn more and enroll here: https://smallfarmcourses.com/p/bf-154-good-manufacturing-practices-for-sugarhouses

Episode Produced by Ailis Clyne.

Music - Long and Low Cloud by Blue Dot Sessions (www.sessions.blue)

This month, Adam interviews Mark Cannella, Extension Professor and Farm Business Management Specialist with University of Vermont Extension. Mark works on maple economics projects throughout the Northeastern United States and leads a national maple business education initiative. In this episode, Adam and Mark discuss national consumer preference data and how a business can interpret that data to apply it to their marketing strategy.

Episode Produced by Ailis Clyne.

Music - Long and Low Cloud, Funk and Flash, both by Blue Dot Sessions (www.sessions.blue)

This month, Adam interviews Dr. Ali Kosiba and Jason Lilley, co-developers of a new Sugarbush Management course hosted by University of Maine.

Ali is a forest ecophysiologist and Extension Assistant Professor of Forestry at the University of Vermont. Jason is an Assistant Extension Professor of Sustainable Agriculture and a Maple Industry Educator at the University of Maine.

The course is online and asynchronous. To learn more and register, visit: https://extension.umaine.edu/micro-credentials/resilient-sugarbush-management/

Episode Produced by Ailis Clyne.

Music - Long and Low Cloud, Funk and Flash, both by Blue Dot Sessions (www.sessions.blue)

This month, Adam interviews Connor Youngerman, Agroforestry and Mushroom Specialist with the Cornell University Small Farms Program. Connor helps farmers diversify their operations through adoption of agroforestry practices, specifically forest farming of medicinal herbal plants, nursery stock, and mushrooms.

Episode Produced by Ailis Clyne.

Music - Long and Low Cloud, Funk and Flash, both by Blue Dot Sessions (www.sessions.blue)

This month, Adam interviews Scott Zehr, a 4th generation maple producer at Maplewood Sweets in Watertown, NY. Together, they discuss developing a business mission, a personal motto, and brand ethos, as well as how and why to communicate those ideas to the customer.

Episode Produced by Ailis Clyne.

Music - Long and Low Cloud by Blue Dot Sessions (www.sessions.blue)

This month, Adam interviews Mark Isselhardt, University of Vermont Extension Maple Specialist. Mark's extensive experience with judging maple syrup contests at county fairs, and even international contests, makes him a great resource for those looking to win a blue ribbon this year.

Episode Produced by Ailis Clyne.

Music - Long and Low Cloud, Funk and Flash, both by Blue Dot Sessions (www.sessions.blue)

This month, Adam interviews Nick Wendel of Wendel's Maple and More in western New York. Nick is a maple equipment dealer with H2O Leader and has a lifetime of experience with all things maple. From tubing, to RO units, to evaporator pans, Nick has excellent advice for making off-season cleaning as effective and easy as possible.

Episode Produced by Ailis Clyne.

Music - Long and Low Cloud, Funk and Flash, both by Blue Dot Sessions (www.sessions.blue)

This month, Adam catches up with regular guest of the show, Dr. Abby van den Berg, an independent maple researcher who also holds a faculty position at Future Generations University. Together, they discuss what's really going on in the sap and in the evaporator that ultimately results in the flavors we know as pure maple syrup.

Episode Produced by Ailis Clyne.

Music - Long and Low Cloud, Funk and Flash, both by Blue Dot Sessions (www.sessions.blue)

This month, Sweet Talk co-hosts and co-directors of the Cornell Maple Program Aaron Wightman and Adam Wild share the mic for a final episode together. As Aaron departs the Maple Program to pursue other endeavors, Adam asks him to reflect on his past ten years of service to the maple industry and his favorite things about the maple community that he will always be a part of.

Episode produced by Ailis Clyne

Music - Long and Low Cloud by Blue Dot Sessions (www.sessions.blue)

This month, Adam interviews Joël Boutin, a maple specialist, consultant, and educator from Québec, Canada. He is considered by many to be the foremost maple expert working today. After 40 years working in the maple industry, he has much to share, and, amazingly, still much to learn as the industry rapidly grows and changes. This episode focuses on best tapping practices that could help ensure success this sap season.

Episode produced by Ailis Clyne.

Music - Long and Low Cloud, Funk and Flash, both by Blue Dot Sessions (www.sessions.blue)

This month, Aaron interviews Adam Henne, the new educator with the New York State Maple Producers Association (NYSMPA). They discuss the goals of and improvements made to this valuable education program. Learn more about the program at: https://nysmaple.com/the-maple-experience/

Episode Produced by Ailis Clyne.

Music - Long and Low Cloud, Funk and Flash, both by Blue Dot Sessions (www.sessions.blue)

This month, Aaron interviews Alina Stelick, manager of the Cornell Sensory Evaluation Center. She shares the results of research pursued for her doctorate degree on buddy syrup and other late season syrup sensory profiles, as well as on consumer acceptance of these syrups.

Alina Stelick's buddy syrup research has resulted in two Extension Bulletins that are available now on the Cornell Maple Program home page (www.cornellmaple.com).

Episode Produced by Ailis Clyne.

Music - Long and Low Cloud, Funk and Flash, both by Blue Dot Sessions (www.sessions.blue)

This month, Aaron and Adam discuss their experiences testing different methods for chilling sap during the warm part of the production season in mid-spring. Technology to improve and preserve sap quality is becoming essential as the weather gets warmer during the sap collection season. Methods for all different budgets and sized operations are discussed in this episode.

Episode Produced by Ailis Clyne.

Music - Long and Low Cloud by Blue Dot Sessions (www.sessions.blue)

This month, Aaron interviews Eric Shatt, owner of Redbyrd Orchard Cider & Kombucha. Together, he and his wife Deva Maas operate a diversified farm with a wide array of hard cider apple tree varieties, sheep and geese that graze the orchards, and a small maple sugarbush. These enterprises synergize, not only on the land, but also in the cidery / fermentation kitchen where they develop unique value-added products.

Find Redbyrd Orchard at the Ithaca Farmers Market, or learn more at: https://www.redbyrdorchardcider.com/

Episode Produced by Ailis Clyne.

Music - Long and Low Cloud, Funk and Flash, both by Blue Dot Sessions (www.sessions.blue)

After about one year since the last one, this is our fourth installment of "Ask a Maple Specialist." Aaron and Adam answer some of your most frequently asked maple questions.

To have your question featured on the show, visit the Sweet Talk webpage at www.cornellmaple.com (https://blogs.cornell.edu/cornellmaple/sweettalk/). Or, submit your question directly on the Spotify app.

Episode Produced by Ailis Clyne.

Music - Long and Low Cloud by Blue Dot Sessions (www.sessions.blue)

This month, Aaron interviews Gabe Karns from The Ohio State University. Gabe has been studying Freeman's maple, a hybrid between red and silver maple that may prove to be more resilient and just as productive as sugar maple.

Gabe can be reached at: karns.36@osu.edu

Episode Produced by Ailis Clyne.

Music - Long and Low Cloud, Funk and Flash, both by Blue Dot Sessions (www.sessions.blue)

This is our third installment of "Ask a Maple Specialist." Aaron and Adam answer some of your most frequently asked maple questions.

To have your question featured on the show, visit the Sweet Talk webpage at www.cornellmaple.com (https://blogs.cornell.edu/cornellmaple/sweettalk/). Or, submit your question directly on the Spotify app.

Episode Produced by Ailis Clyne.

Music - Long and Low Cloud by Blue Dot Sessions (www.sessions.blue)

This month, Adam interviews Scott St. Mary from St. Maple in Malone, NY. Scott has a unique and successful approach to maple marketing and retail, especially through novel products and a popular maple food trailer.

Episode Produced by Ailis Clyne.

Music - Long and Low Cloud, Funk and Flash, both by Blue Dot Sessions (www.sessions.blue)

This month, Aaron interviews Peter Gregg, founder of the Maple News and author of the anticipated maple memoir Sugar Rush. They discuss the origins of the newspaper, and of Gregg's sugaring career, and give a sneak peak into the memoir that will hit the shelves on July 2.

Subscribe to the Maple News at: https://www.themaplenews.com/.

And learn more about Sugar Rush at: https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-Sugar-Rush/Peter-Gregg/9781639366811

Episode Produced by Ailis Clyne.

Music - Long and Low Cloud, Funk and Flash, both by Blue Dot Sessions (www.sessions.blue)

This month, Adam interviews two researchers from the University of Michigan, Geoff Lewis and Spencer Checkoway, who received a USDA-AMS ACER grant to conduct a carbon lifecycle assessment of maple syrup production.

To help contribute to this research, contact Geoff Lewis at: glewis@umich.edu, and to view the results of this research, go to the Center for Sustainable Systems website: css.umich.edu.

This research will result in a calculator tool hosted on the CSS website for maple producers to better understand the sustainability and efficiency of their operations.

Additionally, there are a couple of reports available now related to this research. Find them under "Publications" here: https://css.umich.edu/people/student-researchers/spencer-checkoway.

Episode Produced by Ailis Clyne.

Music - Long and Low Cloud, Funk and Flash, both by Blue Dot Sessions (www.sessions.blue)