Ask a Royal Champion: Chris Koopmans, Maple Producer, Wauposs, Ontario
Six months ago, Chris Koopmans had no plans of taking home a top Royal title for his Extra Light maple syrup. But after impressing the judges and pulling a top mark of 96 out of a possible 100 points in the competition, he was pleasantly surprised and honored to receive the title of 2014 Reserve Grand Champion Maple Syrup. He was also the recipient of the Dominion and Grimm Trophy for his achievement at The Royal Agricultural Winter Fair. We first spoke to Chris in late October of 2014 when we called him in advance of the Fair with news of his win and an invitation to The Royal’s inaugural Champions Day. He accepted the invitation and a few short weeks later, he was being interviewed and photographed at The Royal’s Food & Lifestyle Stage while an enthusiastic crowd sampled and purchased his Champion product. Fast forward to Spring 2015 and The Royal was packing up to go and find out exactly how and where this Champion product was made. Upon arrival at Koopmans’ Maple Mountain, we soon learned that Chris plays many roles: career carpenter, volunteer firefighter, farmer, father and husband to name a few. Between working and answering calls from the fire station, Chris carved out a few hours to show us what it takes to become a Royal Champion.
RAWF: What is your background in agriculture?
Chris Koopmans: I have lived on the farm for my entire life. It’s one of those things that once you’ve been exposed to it, it’s always with you.
RAWF: When you say you have lived on the farm your whole life, are you referring to this farm?
CK: Yes. My grandparents came to Waupoos, Ontario in 1972 and bought this property. In addition to the maple bush, the land also has crop and dairy operations. In the early 80’s my parents took it over. It is truly a family operation.
RAWF: Do you remember the first time you tapped a maple tree?
CK: Yes, I was 8 years old when I tapped my first tree. It was in the ditch at the front of the property. I had seen some of the maple syrup supplies lying around in the garage and asked my parents if I could give sugaring off a try. With my red wagon in tow, I would collect the sap in a bucket and then boil it down in the house. Everyone says that the maple syrup business is a bug. You get bit once and you’ve got the disease. The rest is really history.
RAWF: Can anyone tap a maple tree?
CK: For sure! It doesn’t take that much to get started. All you need is a spile, a bucket, a maple tree and an understanding that if you boil in it your kitchen you will have a sticky situation on your hands.
RAWF: Does the quality or taste of the syrup change depending on which variety is tapped and the time of the season that it is drawn from the trees?
CK: For sure. On our farm we have sugar maples that produce a 40:1 ratio (40 gallons of maple water to 1 gallon of maple syrup), but there is a variety of maple, the black maple, that produces the sweetest sap and therefore the sweetest syrup. In general, light syrup is made at the beginning of the season and as the season comes to a close, amber syrup is produced. Amber syrup will be made when the buds are about to break from dormancy and the batch will take an extra 20-30 minutes to boil as this syrup has a lower sugar concentration. The concentration at the beginning of the season will be about 2.6% versus 1.5-1% at the end of the season.
RAWF: Would you say that this is a family operation?
CK: My wife and children come down when they can, but given that my children are very young they can’t help out just yet. I am sure that when they’re old enough they will be eager to lend a hand. In the meantime, my parents and brother will come down and check on the shack when I can’t make it out.
RAWF: You must get this question all of the time, but we are dying to know your favorite uses for maple syrup.
CK: I use it on pancakes and ice cream, but I also enjoy it with vanilla yogurt. A not so obvious use for some people, but a common use for it in our house is as a substitute for sugar in cooking and baking. In my opinion it is the healthiest of the sweeteners. It is much better for you than sugar because it is pure.
RAWF: Where do you keep your syrup?
CK: In the freezer. It’s the best spot. Because of the high sugar content, it will not freeze.
RAWF: Explain your farm to table process.
CK: Each spring I come out and drill a hole into each tree. We currently have about 700 taps. We collect the sap, process it in the shack, take it up to the house to check the density, filter and bottle it and then it ends up in the self-serve stand at our front door. We run on the honor system here so it doesn’t get much more farm to table than that.
RAWF: Do you have a marketing plan?
CK: Word of mouth at the moment. People can find us on social media, but until we are producing more syrup than we can sell at the stand and in a few of the local shops, this is the way that we will continue.
RAWF: Are you a full-time farmer?
CK: No. I am a carpenter by trade. The maple business is my hobby. An expensive hobby, but I’ve got the bug.
RAWF: What type of tapping system do you use in your shack?
CK: We switched over to a vacuum tubing system instead of buckets, as the buckets were too much work. The new system makes life easy. That’s what we’re all about at Koopmans’ Maple Mountain, trying to make life easy.
RAWF: Is there a reason for the name Koopmans’ Maple Mountain?
CK: A large part of the farm is on a steep hill. This is where the name comes from.
RAWF: Tell us about your Road to the Royal. How did you end up as an exhibitor?
CK: I’ve been meaning to enter for a few years now, but I have always missed the deadline. This year I just made it happen and it paid off.
RAWF: How did you select what product you would enter in The fair?
CK: Throughout the season when I am making the syrup and bottling it, I will save some syrup from each batch. Once it comes time to enter, I will select the best product from that season to send in. There are three colour classes that you can enter at The Royal, Extra Light, Light and Medium, and we want to be sure we enter the best of each.
RAWF: Will you enter again in 2015?
CK: Part of me thinks that I should take my win and run, but I will be entering again in 2015.
Update: As The Royal visited Koopmans’s Maple Mountain part way through the maple season, we were curious to know just how much maple syrup Chris produced in 2015. The answer…830 liters off 675 taps!
