Tassiers Ship Syrup to U.S. Embassy in Moscow

Deb Tassier of Cedarville holds a gift-box filled with a bottle of maple syrup, and packages of maplesugar covered pecans and maple-sugar candies. Fifty of these gift-boxes are packed in the six large cardboard boxes on the floor next to her, headed toward Moscow. The U.S. Ambassador to Russia plans to give them as Christmas gifts to Russian officials. When the order was placed last month via e-mail, Deb Tassier didn't believe it was real; she thought it was some kind of scam. Someone in Russia had found the Web site for the Cedarville maple syrup company she owns and operates with husband Dan Tassier, Tassier's Sugar Bush, and wanted to order 50 gift-boxes of maple syrup and maple-flavored candies to be shipped to Moscow.

"They contacted me by e-mail and I was like, 'Hmm, yeah right'," she said in disbelief. "There's a lot of maple syrup Web sites and a lot of them are in Michigan. I don't know why they chose us."

The e-mail from around the world was legitimate and the Tassiers were happy to fill it. The order came from the office of the U.S. Ambassador to Russia, John Beyrle, who is originally from Muskegon.

Other than the fact that Ambassador Beyrle is from Michigan, Mrs. Tassier doesn't know how his office found out about their syrup.

"It's a mystery. I really don't know," she said. "I know they asked for 50 gift-boxes and they knew what they wanted."

Ambassador Beyrle responded to an inquiry from The St. Ignace News Thursday, September 10, with a telephone call from Moscow, which is eight time zones ahead, while watching streamed video of the Detroit Tigers versus the Kansas City Royals baseball game on the Internet; it was about 11 p.m. at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow.

He said he plans to give the gift-boxes from Tassier's to Russian officials as Christmas gifts.

"It's just something a little more than a card," he said. "It gives them a little taste of America and a little taste of Michigan."

He said he found Tassier's by researching maple syrup companies in Michigan online.

The large order caught Deb and Dan Tassier off guard and they had to hurry to fill the order, which needed to be "shipped as soon as possible." They had the syrup ready, but had to package it in 250-millileter bottles at the ambassador's request, which they typically don't stock. They also had to quickly make 400 maple leaf-shaped candies, made from churned maple sugar, and 200 ounces of maple-glazed pecans. Mrs. Tassier said they don't typically stock those items in bulk because they have a shelf-life of about three months. The pecans were made by Wilderness Treasures in Pickford with the Tassier's maple sugar.

"We didn't have enough for the 50 crates. It's one of those we don't ever sell that large of an order at once. It's always, maybe, one or two or 10 that we have on stock," Mrs. Tassier said. "We've been working steady for a week and we packed these all up [Monday, September 7], to get them all ready to be shipped."

The Tassiers have shipped their products to countries including Germany, Africa, Australia, England, and the Netherlands, as well as all over the U.S.

"Russia is probably the furthest weve shipped. We’ve done a lot of foreign countries before, but never Russia," she said. "It’s not the largest order weve ever had, but its the largest and furthest at the same time. We’ve had orders up to about 75 gift-boxes before."

The $1,300 order is being shipped to New Jersey first, where it will then be processed through the U.S. State Department's mail system and sent across the Atlantic Ocean. Ambassador Beyrle said it will take about two months for the giftboxes to reach Moscow, just in time for the holidays.

Ambassador Beyrle was appointed as the U.S. Ambassador to Russia in 2008 by then- President George W. Bush. He previously served as the U.S. Ambassador to Bulgaria in 2005 until his appointment as Russian ambassador, which is a threeyear term.

This year, Deb and Dan Tassier have harvested about 75,000 gallons of maple sap from 3,000 tree taps. That translates into about 1,500 gallons of syrup.