Union City Rotary reaches 72nd year of maple syrup producton

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18-03-2025

UNION CITY — The Union City Rotary and its volunteers are continuing to collect sap from maple trees until the first buds appear on the trees in Sherwood and Union City villages.
In late February, volunteers placed 1,500 taps in maple trees in Union City and about 100 in Sherwood. The sweet sap runs up and down the trees during cool nights and warm days, filling the blue bags with the sugar solution.
Rotarian Jerry Snyder, 77, has been at the Union City sap shack for over 30 years. He said volunteers, many school clubs, and teams dump the bags of sap into a trailer wagon with a 1,000-gallon tank.
The sap goes through an osmosis unit from a holding tank that takes out half of the water.
The process reduces the time and cost of boiling off the rest of the water in the giant stainless-steel evaporator, which is heated to 219 degrees. An automatic valve empties the thick golden syrup into another tank.
Forced through filters, the sap shack team hand-fills plastic and glass pints to gallon jugs and bottles with the thick syrup.
Snyder said that with a sugar content of 6%, between 30 and 35 gallons of sap are reduced to produce one gallon of syrup.
On top of each container is the seal with a label that indicates this syrup is from the 72nd year of the production of Union City Rotary Club Maple Syrup.
The first day's production on Feb. 26 was only 3.5 gallons.
The arctic air froze the sap in the bags from March 1 until March 5, preventing any collection.
As of Thursday, March 13, the 2025 production totaled 203.5 gallons.
Last year, hot weather closed the sap shack down on March 8, but in three previous years, the last day was March 19.
Although last year's production was not great, the sap shack produced 334 and 354 gallons in the two prior years.
Eleven years ago, the Rotary Club replaced its old open pan concentrator with a modern $20,000 evaporator with its 750,000 BTU burner. The club borrowed $80,000 for the new sap shack operation, which it paid back in eight years.
State inspectors called the new modern Union City operation the best in the state.
Ron Cooper visited the maple syrup operation with his wife several years ago. He comes back now to help bottle syrup.
Tim Pearl retired from the Coldwater Board of Public Utilities water department in January. He joined the team to perform quality testing on each batch.
In Union City, Jack's Grocery and Southern Michigan Bank and Trust carry the syrup, which costs from $8 a half pint to $52 a gallon.
In years when supplies are up, Snyder can be found Saturdays at Coldwater's Farmer's Market. Others sell at Marshall's Farmer's Market.
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Known as the Maple Syrup Rotary, the club uses the profits to fund projects and match grants in the area. The club provided $30,000 for the new Union City community center.
Contact Don Reid: [e-mail]
This article originally appeared on Coldwater Daily Reporter: Union City Rotary funds community projects with syrup production