Premier McNeil gave the Nova Scotia Exporter of the Year Award to Hutchinson’s Maple Products in a ceremony at Pier 21 yesterday.
It could hardly be a more Nova Scotian story. Chris & Anna Hutchinson grew up on farms in The Valley, went into long haul trucking for 20 years in central Canada, and then returned to their roots.
From the Hutchinson Acres website:
Hutchinson Acres is located in Lake Paul, it is owned by Chris and Anna Hutchinson, who were both born and raised on farms in the Annapolis Valley. Chris and Anna started Hutchinson Acres in 2004 with a small purchase of land in Lake Paul and grew to where they are today; they now have 1500 acres of owned and leased land.
We have Christmas trees, wild blueberries, timber and of course many Maple groves. We currently have 25,000 taps in our sugar bush and are planning to expand each year hoping within 5 years to have 100,000 taps. Our Christmas trees are sold locally and can be found at the “Tree Fort” in Coldbrook during the Christmas season. Our wild blueberries are harvested locally and our maple syrup can be found in various stores and restaurants throughout Nova Scotia.
We promote purchasing locally to support our community and most of our employees come directly from our small community in Lake Paul. Thank you for supporting our farm and community, Please enjoy all of our products.
That’s a pretty modest description which doesn’t highlight their most innovative product: PURE Infused Maple Syrup and how they teamed up with a Nova Scotian Chef to develop it.
It’s all very high tech, all components and processes are certified organic and there are 400 miles of piping!
“Typically what you will see in the market is a cinnamon stick or a vanilla bean put inside the bottle and left there permanently, or flavor added to the maple syrup,” she said.
“What we do is infuse the ingredients into the maple syrup for just the right period of time and then we take it out, so what’s you’re left with is a clean pour and balanced flavor.”
PURE is sold from coast to coast, while the company’s regular maple syrup line is predominantly marketed in Nova Scotia. – Kings Co. Advertiser May 26, 2016
After three years of being asked to make a pitch to the Dragon’s Den, they relented and made their pitch, successfully, in late May. (View Video)
I couldn’t help thinking that McNeil must have been glad to hear a real success story involving Nova Scotian trees and that the trees are still standing!
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Thanks to M.P. for pointing me to this story