Lars Jendruschewitz | Asst. Photo Editor / The Daily Orange

Swiss Mountain Farms sells its homemade syrup to customers all year long. Joanna Baker and her husband began sugaring out of their garage in 2013 and they now have a brand new space they work out of with a new evaporator and reverse osmosis machine.

Lars Jendruschewitz | Asst. Photo Editor / The Daily Orange

Critz Farms, located in Cazenovia, New York, opens its doors to visitors as a part of New York State Maple Producers Association’s annual Maple Weekend celebration. Matthew Critz, the founder and president of the farm, gave attendees a hands-on opportunity to hold equipment he used to tap maple trees to make maple syrup.

Lars Jendruschewitz | Asst. Photo Editor / The Daily Orange

Swiss Mountain Farms — along with most New York maple product producers — use a wood-powered evaporator to boil sap into maple syrup. The farm’s first boil of the 2024 season was in early February and they’ve produced roughly 685 gallons so far.

Lars Jendruschewitz | Asst. Photo Editor / The Daily Orange

Temperature conditions impact the grade of maple syrup, which is determined by how light or dark it is. Early syrups are typically lighter than late-season syrup but, with jarring temperature changes, producers said syrup grade is becoming less predictable.

Lars Jendruschewitz | Asst. Photo Editor / The Daily Orange

Critz Farms uses an ascending evaporator to boil syrup. Patrick Critz, the owner’s son, explained that this model is highly efficient and utilizes 99% of sap to boil into syrup, which significantly minimizes waste.

Lars Jendruschewitz | Asst. Photo Editor / The Daily Orange

Joanna Baker stores a glass jar on the window sill in her sugarhouse of antique tree taps. The taps were used by her family in the early 1900s to produce their own syrup, which inspired Baker to do the same.

Lars Jendruschewitz | Asst. Photo Editor / The Daily Orange

Mark Russell at Swiss Mountain Farms stokes the evaporator to boil sap. Because of its high boiling point and needing over 40 gallons to produce one gallon of maple syrup, producers add wood to their evaporators every six to eight minutes.

Lars Jendruschewitz | Asst. Photo Editor / The Daily Orange

Sap reaches its boiling point at roughly 219 degrees. In the evaporator, producers can tell when it's ready after it transforms to its distinct amber coloring.

Lars Jendruschewitz | Asst. Photo Editor / The Daily Orange

Swiss Mountain Farms in Erieville opens its doors for visitors during Maple Weekend to explore their new boiling space. The farm is only a few miles from where Joanna Baker’s family boiled their own sap in the early 1900s.

Lars Jendruschewitz | Asst. Photo Editor / The Daily Orange

Swiss Mountain Farms uses vacuum taps to extract sap from its sugarbush. The sugarbush is the combination of red, sugar and various other types of maple trees that produce sap which is usable in syrup.