An eastern Quebec company known for certified organic maple syrup has picked up public funding to tap into syrup from yellow birch trees.
Erabliere Escuminac, based in the Escuminac area on Chaleur Bay, will get a loan worth $109,454 through the federal Community Adjustment Fund toward the equipment needed for a second production line.
The business decided last year to branch out into organic birch syrup after getting “promising results” from a stand of yellow birch, the government said in a release Thursday.
The CAF loan will go toward installation of tubing, expansion of an existing pumping station, addition of a second pumping station and buying various equipment needed for the new production line, such as an osmosis system, bottling system, sap and syrup tanks, syrup flow regulator and evaporator.
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Birch syrup is considered a premium product, which differs from maple syrup mainly by a distinctive caramel flavour. The product is “gaining considerably in popularity, especially among chefs,” the government said.
Quebec MP Denis Lebel said in the release that the company’s project will, “from the very outset… stimulate employment and eventually allow the enterprise to increase and diversify its revenues.”
Erabliere Escuminac was set up in 1998 and is considered one of the province’s top five producers of certified organic maple syrup.
Meant to help spur development in rural, single-industry communities, the two-year Community Adjustment Fund requires that funded projects be completed by March 31, 2011 “with no requirement for continued support.”
