ERIE COUNTY, NY— Who wants syrup?

As maple syrup and maple products such as maple candy, maple cheese, and zips continue to surge in popularity and marketability, Erie County is taking the first steps in forming a Strategic Maple Syrup reserve to market, maintain and promote this valuable local asset. As the recent Maple Weekend showed, individuals, families and even bears love the taste of all-natural maple syrup, so the formation of a new, local strategic syrup reserve makes sense and would place Erie County alongside Quebec as the only two

fully-invested municipalities in this effort.

“Our Erie County maple syrup is among the finest in the world, a sweet treat that our Parks’ Department officially produces at the Sugar Shack, a little-known gem of our Parks’ system that is the epicenter for large-scale production of this light liquid gold. Until recently we have been restricted in the amount of syrup we can make in one season,” said Erie County Executive Mark C. Poloncarz. “However, with the assistance of technology we now can triple the amount of sap each tree produces, meaning that one tree produces as much sap as three, and that’s pretty sappy. Why should Quebec have all the fun? With this resurgent initiative Erie County is tapping trees as well as leadership and we will be forming an Office of Local Syrup to oversee the endeavor.”

“For our Department, this new initiative is an exciting way to get more from our maple trees, which are obviously in need of more to do. They mostly just stand around so it will be good to see them more a part of our overall Parks’ strategy, but they are also the big stars of the show when it comes to syrup! This local resource is of strategic importance,” said Commissioner of Parks, Recreation and Forestry Troy Schinzel. “We will work with the new Director of Syrup, whoever that is, to make sure that all of our trees are doing the best they can and that our stockpile of syrup is at acceptable levels.”

Plans for the new Strategic Reserve envision a mountain-sized stockpile located at a secret location in the county and able to contain up to a million gallons of syrup. Always good on pancakes and french toast, maple syrup has impressive versatility and can be delightful on vanilla ice cream as well as on chicken and waffles. Historically maple syrup was once considered the “currency of kings” and a tax on it sparked early conflicts on the American frontier, now remembered as the “Great Syrup Standoff of 1770”.

# # #