Big Tree Maple began as a back porch business in 1993, and Munsee has expanded every year. He currently runs the business with his son, David, and the business consists of three separate parts. Big Tree Maple makes and sells maple syrup, is a part of the equipment dealership Lapierre, which Munsee said is a family name in Quebec, and the tanker trucks used to haul sap is also used to fill swimming pools in the summer.

Munsee said making maple syrup is a lot of work, isn’t easy, and is expensive, but added that there have been many changes in the business over the last few decades.

“There have been a lot of changes as there is with all agriculture,” Munsee said. “A few decades ago the majority of sap was collected and gathered in galvanized buckets. There was a process to collect from each one of those buckets and bring it to the truck or whatever they were transporting in.”

These days, Munsee said the maple industry has moved away from buckets and the majority of producers these days use plastic tubes and sometimes also vacuums, which now increase the volume of sap producers are able to collect from trees. This has also enabled producers to make a lot more syrup and grow their businesses.

Big Tree Maple’s reverse osmosis machine, a machine that allows producers to take most of the water out of the sap and produce more syrup. P-J photo by Sara Holthouse

Another new part of the process is a commonly used machine; the reverse osmosis machine, which allows producers to get rid of most of the water in the sap, which then allows for producers to go through more sap with less energy use, labor, and also saves time and fuel.

All of these changes together allow for some maple producers to be able to make a living off of their business.

“It’s more common now for a business to be a stand alone business and make a living,” Munsee said. “There are few that do that, but it is possible. Decades ago it was typically small dairy farmers with maple trees who would go around and collect sap. These farms are fading now and producers are becoming bigger.”

Additionally, Munsee referred to the maple business as a diverse business with many different sized producers, including small and big ones. He said that the business has all levels, including in Chautauqua County.

Maple syrup production also is very dependent on the weather. Over the last few years, Munsee said the weather has caused a lot of things to start and end earlier than before.

One of the tables of products offered by Big Tree Maple. P-J photo by Sara Holthouse

“Making syrup is always dependent on the weather,” Munsee said. “It’s the one thing we can’t control and it affects us in big ways. This year the season actually started early, starting in around January and our first boil was Feb 2.”

Munsee said their season was going fine until the weather reached 70 degrees for a few days in a row, which led to trees beginning to give less sap and essentially brought the season to an end.

“The climate seems to be changing,” Munsee said. “It’s warming up and we have to respond by doing things earlier than we have before.”

Recently, Congressman Nick Langworthy has introduced a bipartisan MAPLE Act, which allows for maple syrup to be added to the eligible products under the Seniors Farmers Market Nutrition Program, giving low-income seniors access to locally grown food at places like farmers’ markets. While Munsee said this does not affect Big Tree Maple very much, anything that promotes the maple industry and gets people more access to it is a good thing.

“The maple industry is alive and well,” Munsee said. “Maple syrup is a healthy, natural sweetener that you can use in many ways, not just on your pancakes and waffles. Farmers work very hard to produce healthy and delicious products.”

Big Tree Maple sells syrup on a year round basis, and Munsee added other producers do too, also shipping around the country. Big Tree Maple can be found at bigtreemaple.com.