In Pictures: Making maple syrup at Jakeman's in rural Ontario
Company is trying to export more of Canada's liquid gold
About 500 taps collect sap in mid-March on the Jakeman’s Maple Products property near Woodstock, Ont. The family has been harvesting and making maple products since the 1870s.Glenn Lowson/The Globe and Mail
Chad Jakeman is a fifth generation maple syrup producer. As the company’s export sales manager, he has connected with customers through the Internet, government agencies, trade shows and country visits. On a recent trip to China, for instance, his seminar on the health benefits of maple syrup resulted in orders from health food stores, which helped the Jakeman name make inroads into three Chinese provinces.Glenn Lowson/The Globe and Mail
A maple sap tap. They are sold in the Jakeman store on the property.Glenn Lowson/The Globe and Mail
Chad Jakeman taps a tree using a drill.Glenn Lowson/The Globe and Mail
The company exports to Asia, Europe, the Mideast, Australia and North America, accounting for about 20 per cent of the total sales. In addition to syrup, product offerings include cookies, candy, spreads, granulated maple sugar and icewine syrup.Glenn Lowson/The Globe and Mail
Chad Jakeman’s uncle Bruce Jakeman boils maple sap. He is a supplier for the family operation.Glenn Lowson/The Globe and Mail
Cartoons on the property tell how maple sap is harvested and boiled down to create syrup.Glenn Lowson/The Globe and Mail
While the company has been successful so far with its exports, Chad Jakeman still has plenty of questions about financing and logistics. Recently, he had trouble sleeping after shipping 19,440 boxes of cookies to a Mexican food importer.Glenn Lowson/The Globe and Mail
The deal worked out well in the end, but it left him wondering about how much risk he should take on for the sake of building exports. “They were owing me $31,000 and I lost some sleep over that,” he says.Glenn Lowson/The Globe and Mail