Maple syrup prices are rising fast this spring. The price increase is affecting syrup makers, customers and restaurant owners -- especially those in Vermont, which leads the U.S. in syrup-production.
USA Today reported:
"In 2007, a gallon of Vermont maple syrup cost an average of $35, according to Department of Agriculture statistics. This year, the price is $45 a gallon at Branon Family Maple Farms -- and that's the low end.
"The Vermont Maple Outlet in Jeffersonville sells gallons for $76.95. F.H. Gillingham's, a store in Woodstock that also sells online, charges $80 a gallon -- up from $60 last year.
"Canada's huge supply of surplus syrup has been drained after production dropped 30 percent below average last year, the second poor year in a row.
"'It was very cold, and suddenly, too warm. Spring didn't occur,' says Simon Trepanier of the Federation of Quebec Maple Producers.
"The result: 'There's just not a lot of syrup out there,' says Bernie Comeau, who runs Comeau Family Sugarhouse with his wife, Ann, in Williston.
"Demand for syrup has been sweetened by consumer interest in natural and organic products and in buying locally-made food, says Catherine Stevens of the Vermont Maple Foundation. The popularity of the Master Cleanse diet -- a fasting regimen popularized by the singer Beyoncé that includes drinking water flavored with maple syrup -- doesn't hurt."
There are several maple syrup associations throughout North America. Here are links to some in Indiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New York, Ohio, Vermont and Wisconsin.
There are also several in Canada, including those in
Nova Scotia,
New Brunswick,
Quebec and
Ontario.
