Photo courtesy County of Elgin Economic Development
What began as a small operation, perhaps as far back in time as a century or more, producing maple syrup for family and friends has grown into a sweet County of Elgin success story.
The Aldred Maple Products operation is based out of the 150-acre family farm of Dugald and Judy Aldred, located north of West Lorne.
Dug, as he is known, is a fourth-generation farmer whose family got the Crown land pre-Confederation in 1864.
And maple syrup has been a long-running family tradition, notes Dug.
“This is the third sugar shack that’s been on the property that I know of. We always done it kind of a small scale, just family and friends. And we make it every two or three years. When we ran out of syrup, it was time to make more.
“But our old shack, it got to the point that it was falling into the ground. So I said, if we ever do this again, we’re going to upgrade.”
And upgrade they have.
They work 38 acres of bush on the farm and rent some trees from a neighbour for a total of about 1,600 trees that are tapped.
Dug explains that in a good year, they can harvest about a litre-and-a-half of sap from a tree.
Undertaken with a commitment to responsible woodlot management and environmental stewardship.
“The maple syrup has turned out to be much bigger business than we ever thought,” Dug confides.
“It’s grown unbelievable in the nine years we’ve had this building up.”
To the point where Aldred Maple Products are widely recognized at local markets like the Rodney Night Market and Dutton market along with numerous retail outlets throughout southwestern Ontario.
“We’ve gotten into a lot of maple-related products like maple sugar, we’ve got maple butter now, we have whisky barrel-aged maple syrup, we’ve got coffee-infused syrup.”
The unique flavour ideas are courtesy of his wife and son.
The whisky barrels come from Wolfhead Distillery in Amherstburg, and there is more to that story, enthuses Dug.
“Freshly empty, we put the syrup in hot and it sits there for five months and then they buy a lot of it back to sell in their little gift store.”
However, there is a new chapter to the story.
“And now they’re buying barrels from us. They’re going to make a maple whiskey.”
One product still in the experimental stage is a cocoa bean-infused maple syrup.
As a bonus, the maple syrup products can be custom packaged.
“If a company wants to get their logo engraved on a bottle or something to give away as gifts or for customer appreciation or for their employee basket. We also offer that for people for wedding favors to get their name engraved on the bottom.”
It’s a matter of constantly learning, experimenting and evolving, Dug advises.
To learn more about Aldred Maple Products, visit their Facebook page here.
You can listen to a portion of our interview with Dug Aldred below.
Written by Ian McCallum
All photos courtesy Aldred Maple Products
