Maggie's Farm

We are a commune of inquiring, skeptical, politically centrist, capitalist, anglophile, traditionalist New England Yankee humans, humanoids, and animals with many interests beyond and above politics. Each of us has had a high-school education (or GED), but all had ADD so didn't pay attention very well, especially the dogs. Each one of us does "try my best to be just like I am," and none of us enjoys working for others, including for Maggie, from whom we receive neither a nickel nor a dime. Freedom from nags, cranks, government, do-gooders, control-freaks and idiots is all that we ask for.

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Saturday, February 21. 2009

Maple Sugar Time


- An annual re-post for sugarin' season.

Our Vermont friends have been busy getting ready for sugarin.' We tend to think of Vermont maple syrup, but Canada is the major producer. We consume it abundantly in New England and do not approve of the cheap substitute goop in the supermarkets. We buy Maple syrup by the gallon.

About the tree: Sugar Maple (Acer saccharum)


Grading - lots of us like the intensity and gnarliness of Grade B and C, but you won't find it in supermarkets: Maple Syrup Grades. Photo below:



 




$ - We pay retail in the $20s/gallon, but the farmers get between $2-$3/gallon, usually. More in a "bad" year.

Other uses besides pancakes and waffles:

   Put it on oatmeal like the Pilgrims did.

   Pour some into winter squash halves and bake, like my Indian ancestors probably did.

   Drizzle some over fresh-fallen snow. Instant Maple popsicles with the power to pull out your fillings.

Photo on top: The Sugar Maple, in its autumn splendor. Below: Currier and Ives' "Maple Sugaring":






Posted by Bird Dog in Food and Drink, Our Essays at 09:48 | Comments (13) | Trackbacks (0)

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Michigan produces a lot of maple syrup, believe it or not.
#1 rightwingprof (Link) on 2007-03-06 16:33 (Reply)
I know folks that still own sugar bush and they have some great old photos of the old aunts and uncles out in the bush with the big wooden sleds. I lay in a goodly supply of the real thing whenever I can but maple syrup does not last long around here as we pour it into a glass and drink it like water.

Upstaters buy it from The Cedarvale Maple Syrup Company and have it with pancakes from New Hope Mills...

http://www.newhopemills.com/
#2 Patina on 2007-03-06 21:34 (Reply)
And while we are "plugging" folks....

http://www.shelburnefarms.org/products.asp?dept=3
#2.1 Larry Sheldon on 2009-02-21 16:00 (Reply)
Or http://www.gloriapantry.com/

I dunno if she does maple or not, but she does jams and jellies that are really good.

Interesting store to visit.

Of course she does--that was the only place I found Gade B, I think.

Never did find any Grade C, nor have I found it on-line anywhere.
#2.1.1 Larry Sheldon on 2009-02-21 16:10 (Reply)
I do know that. Probably marketed as "Vermont Family Home Pure Maple Syrup."
#3 BD on 2007-03-06 21:35 (Reply)
I make syrup from box elder trees (a type of maple) and it comes out great.

:)
#4 abc123 on 2007-03-17 15:50 (Reply)
Wow - and all the way down to Kentucky:

http://sof.eomf.on.ca/Economic_and_Social_Benefits/Economic/Non-Timber_Products/Indicators/maple_syrup/Images/maple_range.jpg
#5 Skookumchuk on 2009-02-21 09:55 (Reply)
Fond memory of my youth: maple sugar. It was packaged like a box of chocolates. It was round and flat and came in various shapes a la sugar cookies.
#6 Roy Lofquist on 2009-02-21 11:20 (Reply)
Ohio exports a lot of maple high fructose corn syrup.
#7 Ron Hardin (Link) on 2009-02-21 11:25 (Reply)
"beef hash" good. "corned beef hash" good.

"Session hash" bad.

Also:

"Ohio exports a lot of maple high fructose corn syrup"

Quoting a world-famous philosopher:

"Bleah!"

I was in the North east a couple of years ago and could find only a little grade B , no grade C.

And there doesn't seem to be much agreement or standardization.

But it does seem like the higher the grade and the frothier the "purity" clams. the more like Karo it is likely to taste.

(When I was a lad in Southern California Karo is what we got, light, dark and "maple"--light is what I referred-to above). We used Maplene when we went camping. I don't have bad memories of it either.

But I
#7.1 Larry Sheldon on 2009-02-21 15:43 (Reply)
Being a Westerner I had the impression that the merry folks of New England would tramp through snow drifts carrying their buckets of sap to the sugar house. After moving to New Hampshire I was shocked to learn that maple sap now is collected by attaching plastic tubes to the tap and then snaking them down the hills into giant plastic vats.

The world was never the same.
#8 Tralfaz on 2009-02-21 13:48 (Reply)
Sugarin', as it is called by the locals, is as near a sacred rite du printemps, or sacred anything found in Vermont, and one practiced these days by more and more backyard sugarmakers with a few sugar maple trees.

There is a whole ritual associated with the process, and all ages can participate, so it can truly be called a family endeavor and enterprise. Starting with the "tapping out" in early February, and then the first flows in early March, depending on the exposure of your "Bush".

When enough sap is collected the boiling begins and, when boiled down sufficiently, it is time to "sugar off". Also a term used by old-timers at estate settlement time as in "Everybody thought ol' Ira was destitute but by God he had a few bucks in the bank when they sugared him off!"

The immediate reward comes in the form of a sugar -on- snow party right at the sugarhouse, served with freshly made donuts, fresh syrup poured over snow, and a nice sour pickle to offset the sweet. Doesn't get much better than this up in ol' Vermont after another long wintah!
#9 greenmtnpunter on 2009-02-21 16:02 (Reply)
Down here in South Texas I like it on my grits, I like it in my sweet potatoes, winter squashes, pecan pie, (don't tell anybody about that last one, they might think it is sacrilege) and flavoring a whole lot of other goodies.
#10 Ruth H on 2009-02-21 18:33 (Reply)

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