PORT ALBERNI — Hupa膷asath First Nation on Vancouver Island’s west coast is creating a unique flavour of maple syrup using sap from bigleaf maple trees.
As part of the Indigenous Bioeconomy Program, the nation is benefiting from nearly $112,000 in funding from the province toward the business venture, named Kleekhoot Gold.
“Bigleaf maple has always been used by Hupa膷asath for its wood, for smoking fish and game,” said Hupa膷asath First Nation Elected Chief Brandy Lauder. “Some of our members now also use the bigleaf maple syrup to glaze the fish and meat before smoking it with the maple wood.”
Collecting syrup from bigleaf maple trees is a more complex production process, which makes the syrup up to four times more expensive than standard maple syrup sold in supermarkets, said a statement from Kleekhoot Gold.
The company said around 17.4 million gallons of maple syrup was produced from sugar maples in eastern North America in 2019, while the combined bigleaf syrup production amounted to less than 500 gallons.
The syrup is one of the rarest tree syrups available in today’s organic syrup market, according to Kleekhoot Gold.
Sap from west coast bigleaf maple trees is only one per cent sugar, it said, which means that 100 litres of sap might deliver only one litre of syrup.
The syrup has a distinct taste that can vary from notes of butterscotch and vanilla to a more robust molasses flavour near the end of season.
Named after one of the nation’s ancestral village sites, Kleekhoot is home to an abundance of bigleaf maple trees that are unique to sa国际传媒’s west coast. Located on the confluence of the Sproat and Stamp rivers, the village site was inhabited by one of the original tribes of Hupa膷asath Kleekhootaht, and continues to be occupied today, Lauder said.
She said Kleekhoot Gold has provided employment opportunities for youth and brought the nation’s members back into the forests with a “renewed sense that there is more to the forest than just logging opportunities.”
Maple trees grow best in riparian areas, around rivers and streams, that are usually off limits to logging operations, the company said, and the winter harvest of maple sap allows for job opportunities in months when less seasonal work is typically available.
Since Kleekhoot Gold was launched in 2015, Hupa膷asath has invested over $300,000 into the business to bring the product to market. The syrup is sold at the Hupa膷asath’s band office, as well as select local events.
Josie Osborne, MLA for Mid Island-Pacific Rim, recently visited the production facility and said Kleekhoot Gold “is a great example of how innovative forest management can help strengthen communities.”
“People in the Alberni Valley take so much pride in locally grown food, and bigleaf maple syrup makes a sweet addition to our local food landscape,” she said in a statement.
Since 2019, the Indigenous Forest Bioeconomy Program has delivered 41 projects in partnership with 24 Indigenous communities and organizations across the province. These include essential oils being extracted from conifer needles and textiles made from bark.
Funding for the program amounted to almost $1.13 million in 2021 and 2022, and an additional $3.9 million is being contributed this year to move projects to commercialization faster, according to the ministry.
“By locally producing maple syrup from the abundance of bigleaf maple trees unique to the west coast of British Columbia, the Hupa膷asath First Nation is showing us how we can all benefit from our forests in new and sustainable ways,” said Doug Routley, parliamentary secretary for forests.
