Maple syrup from New Jersey: You got a problem with that?

GALLOWAY TOWNSHIP, N.J. — Welcome to New Jersey, known around the world for Tony Soprano, Turnpike tolls, chemical plants, and. It’s part of an effort to use a species of maple tree common to southern New Jersey that has only half as much sugar as the maples of Vermont, the nation’s maple syrup capital. Although maple syrup has been made in New Jersey since the state was populated mainly by Native Americans, who shared their knowledge with settlers, no large-scale industry took hold, particularly in the state’s south. Charlize Katzenbach has been making maple syrup for 35 years at her Sweet Sourland Farms in Hopewell, New Jersey, about 80 miles northwest of Stockton. “They’d say, ‘I get my syrup from Vermont; this can’t be any good at all.’” But years of perseverance, and a growing desire for locally produced food, helped carve out a small niche for New Jersey maple syrup.