Maple sap is flowing for 2020 Maple Festival
by Bruce YoungHIGHLAND COUNTY, Va. (WDBJ/Gray News) If you come to a sugar camp at the right time, you can try the freshest maple syrup you’ll ever get: Fresh out of the boiler.
It’s been a great year for sap in Highland County, with the basic – and only – ingredient in maple syrup flowing at a record rate.
“So, every year it’s going to be a little different," said Missy Moyers-Jarrells of Laurel Fork Sapsuckers. "So far this year, we’ve had a fantastic run.”
“We actually," said Ronnie Moyers, Missy's father, who was boiling the sap. "I checked tanks two hours ago, and we had collected 1300 gallons of sap last night.”
And that’s a lot of maple sugar water.
“Which is a good thing," Moyers-Jarrells said. "Because we have a lot more product to sell for all the people coming into town, whereas other years we’d run out which would be devastating to people who had driven hours to come here and get maple syrup.”
And this year, they’re hoping to offer a little more than just sweets.
“Here at Laurel Fork, we have a true tree to table experience,” she explained.
They have signs all through the process, explaining not just what is done, but how and why.
“In Highland County we take that for granted, it’s been passed down from generation to generation," Moyers-Jarrells said. "But there are a lot of people, consumers, that want to know where and how their food is made now and it’s important for them to understand that.”
But in the end, it’s the sweet stuff that comes out of the boiler that they’re looking for.
“I think there’s going to be a tremendous amount of maple syrup to be offered throughout Highland County, Ronni Moyers predicted.”
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