Dozens of people came out to Nomad Cider in Summerland in March to see sap turn into sweet syrup tapped from trees on the property.

Roch Fortin, of the Okanagan鈥檚 Maple Roch store, was busy boiling the sap and explaining to guests how the sap tapped from a dozen or so sugar maple trees on the property is boiled for days to a certain brick count and then bottled.

After all this work, Maple Roch will only get around 15 litres of the pure Summerland syrup.

鈥淚t鈥檚 a labour of love and it鈥檚 worth it because we can say that we can make pure maple syrup here in Summerland, not just in Quebec or New Brunswick,鈥� Fortin says.

The smell of maple was in the air once you got close to the boiling sap.

Fortin was even giving small samples of the sweet stuff to taste.

All locally produced maple products will have a touch of Summerland sweetness in it, including Maple Roch鈥檚 popular granola that the Canadian Women鈥檚 Olympic soccer team uses to fuel them up for breakfast, Fortin says.

He鈥檚 hoping the granola will make its way to the Tokyo Olympics.

Nomad Cider鈥檚 maple bourbon was also available for outdoor tasting.

鈥淲e wanted to show consumers that we can support local and truly be local, that is why we鈥檙e adding a little of local Summerland syrup to things like our maple granola and barbecue sauce,鈥� Fortin says.

Plan your future adventures throughout the West Coast at and follow us on and @thewestcoasttraveller. And for the top West Coast Travel stories of the week delivered right to your inbox, sign up for our weekly !