UNDERHIL CENTER, Vt.—More love for red maple.

Sugarmakers are flocking to new research from the University of Vermont that shows red maples produce nearly the same amount of sap and sugar as its cousin the sugar maple.

“There is really no difference between what the reds and the sugars are doing of the course of a season,” said Dr. Abby van den Berg of the UVM Proctor Maple Research Center. She gave a presentation on reds at Bascom Maple Farms open house recently.

Van den Berg conducted her study on reds in 2020 and 2021 and this past season conducted further research by segregating sap from the two species and boiling it side by side in two evaporators.

While she has not announced the results from the latest research she did reveal the sap from the two trees had totally different appearances in the holding tanks.

“We did not expect the sap to look different,” she said.

UVM hosted a tasting seminar this summer to try and define taste differences in red maple syrup versus syrup made exclusively from sugar maples.