Galloway, N.J. — After more than 12,000 gallons of sap collected and more than 150 gallons of maple syrup created, Stockton University has proved that Vermont isn’t the only place in the United States that can make a sweet breakfast brew.

Now, it’s time to see what else the Stockton Maple Project can make with its maple syrup. And that will require some partners.

Five years after its start thanks to a series of federal grants, the project recently received another nearly $500,000 grant from the United States Department of Agriculture. This grant will primarily go toward improving the marketing of domestic-made maple syrup both in New Jersey and in Vermont, said Judy Vogel, the project’s director.

“While the first two grants (totaling nearly $1 million) were really focused on production and research involved in production, with the new amount we use that knowledge to focus on direct-to-consumer consumption,” Vogel said. “It’s about increasing consumer awareness now of maple syrup and promoting the sale of domestic maple syrup, whether it’s ours or Vermont’s.”

Vogel added, “the South Jersey consumer is really underinformed about maple syrup.” Not just in how it’s produced, but in the fact that most of what we put on our pancakes and waffles isn’t true maple syrup but a manufactured syrup substitute.

Stockton’s Maple Project wants to educate New Jerseyans by partnering with Vermont maple syrup producers and creating a new pipeline that will sell more U.S. maple syrup in New Jersey.

“Why are we trying to sell Vermont maple syrup? The truth is that New Jersey could never produce enough syrup to just sell on our own to serve the New Jersey consumer,” Vogel said. “This gives us an excellent opportunity to partner with established producers to increase domestic maple sales.”

Those partnerships include opportunities to streamline and improve Stockton’s sap-collecting and syrup-making processes and finding new ways to use the limited amount of syrup that Stockton produces every year in other foods and drinks.

One of the Vermont syrup partners traveled to Stockton in January to help increase the number of trees tapped from 400 to 600 this year. They also have helped make upgrades to the reverse osmosis system in the sugar shack that will cut the boil time in half.

“It has increased our efficiency and production with no increase in manpower,” Vogel said. “Last year we made 62 gallons of syrup. Our hope this year is to produce 100 gallons of maple syrup.”

The unexpectedly cold weather this winter has also led to higher expectations. The taps have been in the trees since early January. And while the sustained cold has led to a slightly later start for collecting sap, once the days get warmer, sap will flow more easily.

“We’re in a really good position with this nice, long cold period as long as it doesn’t just snap and return to spring,” Vogel said.

In addition to working directly with Vermont maple syrup producers, Vogel has also stepped up efforts to connect with local business partners to use the syrup in food and drink recipes.

She recently met with the owner of Hidden Sands Brewery Company in Egg Harbor Township and the microbrewery agreed to include Stockton maple syrup as one of the ingredients in its Coffee Maple Baltic Porter beer. Vogel has also had discussions with a local bakery in Egg Harbor City about using the syrup as an ingredient in some of their homemade treats.

One partnership that has been extremely successful is with Chartwells, the food service provider at Stockton. About two years ago, Chartwells used Stockton syrup to bake maple cookies that were given out at events, said Scott Bencze, Chartwells’ senior campus executive chef.

“I was just fascinated by the whole thing, and I thought it was pretty cool that we’re right here on this large campus with plenty of woods and we’re producing something that everybody is so familiar with,” he said.

As Bencze learned more about how the syrup was made on campus, he said he became more interested in trying different ways to use it as an ingredient, including creating a salad dressing last year and this year using it in a pulled brisket taco recipe.

Bencze presented the taco recipe at the Let’s Get Cook’in fundraiser for the Boys and Girls Club of Atlantic City earlier this month. His dish, which also featured fresh vegetables from Stockton’s Sustainability Farm, won the Best Professional Chef Award for best entrée.

“Normally I would use brown sugar for the sweet part of the recipe, but I figured the maple syrup would be a nice substitute,” Bencze said. “I experimented with it and realized that it worked really, really well and that it would be a nice nod to Stockton.”

Vogel said she wants to sell more of the pure maple syrup in the university bookstore in the future, and she plans to create and sell maple syrup blends on campus that combine syrup from Stockton and Vermont that have a similar flavor profile.

“We are taking the state that is producing the most maple syrup yet with the smallest population (Vermont) and we are now bringing their syrup to the most densely populated state with the smallest production,” Vogel said. “We are very targeted with the partnerships that we are building, and we are excited for this next stage of the project.”

-- Story by Mark Melhorn, photos by Susan Allen