No. 308

Syrup shortage: warm weather has led to “yucky” maple syrup

Forget Facebook shares: it may be time to start stocking up on maple syrup.

Unusually warm weather will cause this year’s U.S. maple syrup production to drop as much as 40%, according to Reuters. Sugar maple trees need freezing temperatures at night to sustain sap production, and the warmest March on record has caused yields and syrup quality to plummet.

U.S. production will likely be around 18 million pounds this year, down from 30 million pounds in 2011, according to a new crop estimate report from Arthur Coombs of Bascom Maple Farms in Alstead, New Hampshire.

“You take 80 degrees in March by golly it don’t help nothing,” Alfred Carrier, a sugarmaker in Glover, Vermont, told Reuters. “We had quite a lot of off-flavored syrup. I don’t think you’d want to put it on a pancake.”

Syrup that is unfit for pancakes is typically sold for industrial purposes — such as flavoring chewing tobacco or salad dressing.

Read more |  TIME, 20.05.12

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