Maple candy is our most challenging product to make consistently. We can control dozens of variables during production, but once the candy leaves our hands, storage conditions can make a big difference.

The biggest factor is moisture. Too little, and the candy becomes rock hard. Too much, and it turns soft and mushy—or, in the worst case, develops mold. We’ve worked to keep our drying conditions and timing consistent, but we’ve learned that those steps alone aren’t enough.

Last week, we bought a moisture meter to help take some of the guesswork out of the process. It weighs a small sample, uses heat to evaporate the water, and calculates the moisture content from the change in weight.

Our early readings show that candy fresh off the machine has a moisture content of about 12–13%, while stale candy is closer to 5%. We think the sweet spot is somewhere around 8–9%. We’ll refine that target over the next few batches and build these measurements into our regular process. The goal is simple: more consistent maple candy in every box.

We also have a packaging update for our maple syrup customers. Tariffs on Canadian goods have created uncertainty in the maple industry, and we’re feeling the effects in our jug supply.

This summer, our jug manufacturer was sold to a major Canadian maple equipment supplier. The company has also been switching from screen printing to labels built directly into the molds. Between that production transition and tariffs on empty jugs—even though the raw plastic is American-made—our gallon jug order from February still hasn’t arrived. Bulk maple syrup from Quebec isn’t subject to those tariffs, but the empty containers are.

We’re now running low on our usual gallon jugs. If you order a gallon between now and the end of the year, it may arrive in a generic jug with a Nova Maple Syrup label we’ve printed ourselves.

Rest assured, the syrup inside is the same syrup you know and love. We’ll use this temporary packaging until our jug order is produced and shipped to the United States. For now, we still have plenty of our usual packaging in the other sizes.

Thanks for your patience and continued support as we work through these changes!

Although he began this spring, we would like to introduce our newest team member, Chuck Shank!

Chuck’s roots with Nova Maple go back to 2013, when he helped Jake boil sap over an open fire during the company’s early days as a hobby. He later spent several years in Oregon with his wife as she pursued her education and career. They returned to Pennsylvania in 2024 and welcomed a baby girl into their family. After occasional visits to the farm, Chuck decided to trade his white-collar job for work that brought him back outdoors. Having grown up in the area, hunting and working on his parents’ horse farm, he’s always felt at home in nature. Though he holds a degree in nuclear medicine, he’s happiest in the woods—and he’s excited to be part of the Nova Maple Syrup team.

One of the most common places for our mainlines to freeze is at the connection between the mainline and the wet/dry lines. We call these connections “boosters,” a name that comes from the old-style cylinders that were once used to connect mainlines together.

Our property only has about 60 feet of total vertical drop, and some of our taps are more than half a mile from the pumphouse. That means we don’t have much room for error when it comes to maintaining proper slope.

We recently finished upgrading all 25 of our boosters. Check out the pictures comparing the old and new designs. The new setup should help eliminate some of our freeze-ups by separating the ball valve from the tee and, more importantly, adding another 4–8 inches of fall at a very critical point in the line.

We also added a loop saddle that connects the mainline above the ball valve directly to the dry line. This gives us another simple way to check for vacuum leaks. By closing the ball valve, we can watch how air transfers through the lateral line. A tight line with no leaks should produce a nice, slow transfer of air, while even a moderate leak will quickly send bursts of sap through the lateral, often accompanied by an audible hiss.

This setup doesn’t replace our Datacer monitoring system, but it complements it by giving us another quick and easy way to identify leaks in the woods. Between better drainage and easier leak detection, these new boosters should help keep our mainlines flowing more reliably when the temperatures start dropping.