New maple tap developers foresee a sweet season

WILLIAMSTOWN — It's 2 inches tall, costs about 35 cents and looks like a tiny rocket ship. But it has big potential.

Scientists at the University of Vermont on Monday unveiled a maple spout adapter that they say could revolutionize the syrup industry by extending the harvest by weeks and greatly boosting sap yields.

The adapter was shown at a news conference at Progressive Plastics in Williamston, Vt. It works by preventing tapped trees from letting bacteria infiltrate the tap holes and close them off.

Syrup prices are historically unpredictable, so it's unclear whether the device will make real maple syrup any cheaper.

And quality could suffer under a longer harvest because sap from early in the season sap is the sweetest.