From the Cornell Cooperative Extension of Broome County:

Join Aaron Wightman, Maple Specialist and Co-Director of the Cornell Maple Program for an in-person, fast-paced two-part session on all things maple! The morning session will focus on a variety of maple syrup production topics including: why make maple syrup, tree identification, tree health, tapping, sap collection and handling, boiling, energy efficiency, finishing and grading syrup, canning, marketing, and regulations. The afternoon will focus on the production of maple confections. It will feature training and hands-on demonstrations of making maple granulated sugar, molded maple sugar, crystal coating and maple cream. The workshop covers how to measure invert sugar in syrup using a diabetic glucose meter and how to use the results to make better confections and eliminate batch failures.  A look at the science of making sugar crystals will help producers consistently make the size of crystals you want in your value added products.

This workshop will take place on Oct 16th from 9am-3pm at Cornell Cooperative Extension of Broome County, and is aimed at the veteran who is also a small or beginning maple producer and wanting to learn more about increasing the quality of their syrup or making maple confections. Owning land with identified maple trees is a requirement for eligibility in attending this training.  

The funding supporting this workshop comes from the Cornell Small Farms veteran project, FarmOps, and targets active service members & military veterans only who reside in NY or NJ. Registration is limited to 15 participants to ensure a quality experience. Questions and follow-up by Cornell Cooperative Extension of Broome County will help us determine final eligibility to attend and participate in this workshop. To register click here: https://reg.cce.cornell.edu/maplesyrupconfections_203. Questions can be directed to Laura Biasillo at lw257@cornell.edu.