First the trees must be tapped. But, One Tree Alaska doesn’t own all of the trees they collect from so they have arranged a cooperative agreement with willing residents to use their trees for the harvest. These sites are spread about the area but typically fall a south facing hillsides. These trees have a continuous collection system built in and “during the peak season, I think we’re hauling around 300 gallons a day,” said Pearson Brodie, a sugar master at One Tree Alaska.
“On top of that we run sugar through our equipment here, like the reverse osmosis and we’re constantly having to clean it and run fresh water through it ‘cause where there’s sugar, there’s always the chance for bacteria or things to grow,” Brodie explained. Hence cleaning occurs between every step of the process in addition to filtration. There other reasons for the thorough scrubbing and scrapping.
“We’ll try to get it all the way to syrup in one season and then it’s one the shelf it’s ready to be sold,” said Brodie. “Otherwise if we can’t get to it, it’ll end up in our freezer and then well work through the winter.”