lookashiny (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
lookashiny) wrote2019-02-05 07:29 pm
lookashiny) wrote2019-02-05 07:29 pm
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Rural Ramblings: Maple Syrup
A lot of people associate Vermont with maple syrup and vice versa. The state tree is the sugar maple, the state quarter has a maple sugaring scene on it, there's a Maple Festival in Saint Albans every year.
It's for a good reason. Maple products are all over the state. Lots of people have sugar shacks where they boil the sap to make syrup. Pretty much every Vermonter kids learns how many gallons of sap are needed to make one gallon of syrup (it's 40).
Vermont's domination of the maple industry is because it, along with the other places that make syrup, have both sugar maple trees and the right climate for sugaring. Maple sugaring season starts some time in February, usually, once the temperatures rise above freezing during the day, but drop back down below freezing at night. It continues until the temperatures stay above freezing all the time and the trees bud. When the sap only flows during the day, but freezes at night, it stays sweet and tastes good as syrup. As soon as the tree forms buds, though, the taste changes and gets funky.
The Vermont Maple Outlet is in my town. It's a store that sells mostly maple products (syrup, butter, candy, ect), plus some other foods and gifts. They make a breakfast gift basked with syrup, pancake mix, and jelly, among others. They also have maple creemees (soft serve ice cream) in the summer, that are very good. During the sugaring season, the family that runs the store makes syrup in a demonstration area of the store that they built when I was in high school. If you are in the area during the season, I recommend checking it out.
My grandfather had a sugar shack where he made syrup up until I was in high school or early college. These days, a guy who lives near the woodlot the shack is on taps the trees, so someone is getting something out of it. When I was a kid, my parents and I would go up to help my grandfather haul the sap buckets down to the shack and empty them into the holding tank. Grandpa was the only one who looked after the boiling sap, because none of us knew how to. One of the things we would have was sap tea, made out of hot, but not congealing sap. Grandpa would dip out the sap in mugs, and we would steep tea bags in it. They wouldn't need sugar, since the sap was already sweet.
I have always loved maple stuff. Maple candy, maple syrup, especially maple ice cream. My favorite Russell Stover candy has always been the maple cream. It's such a tasty flavor and it always reminds me of home.
It's for a good reason. Maple products are all over the state. Lots of people have sugar shacks where they boil the sap to make syrup. Pretty much every Vermonter kids learns how many gallons of sap are needed to make one gallon of syrup (it's 40).
Vermont's domination of the maple industry is because it, along with the other places that make syrup, have both sugar maple trees and the right climate for sugaring. Maple sugaring season starts some time in February, usually, once the temperatures rise above freezing during the day, but drop back down below freezing at night. It continues until the temperatures stay above freezing all the time and the trees bud. When the sap only flows during the day, but freezes at night, it stays sweet and tastes good as syrup. As soon as the tree forms buds, though, the taste changes and gets funky.
The Vermont Maple Outlet is in my town. It's a store that sells mostly maple products (syrup, butter, candy, ect), plus some other foods and gifts. They make a breakfast gift basked with syrup, pancake mix, and jelly, among others. They also have maple creemees (soft serve ice cream) in the summer, that are very good. During the sugaring season, the family that runs the store makes syrup in a demonstration area of the store that they built when I was in high school. If you are in the area during the season, I recommend checking it out.
My grandfather had a sugar shack where he made syrup up until I was in high school or early college. These days, a guy who lives near the woodlot the shack is on taps the trees, so someone is getting something out of it. When I was a kid, my parents and I would go up to help my grandfather haul the sap buckets down to the shack and empty them into the holding tank. Grandpa was the only one who looked after the boiling sap, because none of us knew how to. One of the things we would have was sap tea, made out of hot, but not congealing sap. Grandpa would dip out the sap in mugs, and we would steep tea bags in it. They wouldn't need sugar, since the sap was already sweet.
I have always loved maple stuff. Maple candy, maple syrup, especially maple ice cream. My favorite Russell Stover candy has always been the maple cream. It's such a tasty flavor and it always reminds me of home.
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LOL
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