We had another delicious breakfast of scrambled eggs from the chickens 100 feet away in the yard, house made pork and fennel sausage, and potato hash, and then set off for a day of maple sugaring. It is the "open house" weekend for the maple sugaring farms around Vermont so we would be able to stop by different places to see their operations, taste their syrups, and participate in the tapping activities.
Crossing the Winooski River by our place just outside Richmond, Vermont
Heading west
After a peaceful, winding drive through the forest we arrive at the sugarhouse for the Vermont Audubon society.
The sugarhouse, covered in snow with steam billowing out of the rooftop
Inside the sugarhouse, learning about how the sap that is collected from the trees is boiled to evaporate the water and condense into syrup
Lots of water being boiled off
The trees here were just barely starting to produce sap. Nothing like "real" sap season (where buckets can be filled in a day or two) because the weather is still cold and not fluctuating enough to really "work" the sap up out of the roots, but the Audubon Society was still collecting a bit.
Trying my hand at maple sugaring: Step 1 - find a maple and drill the hole
Step 2 - fit the tap
Step 3 - hang the bucket on the tap and cover it, wait for the right conditions, and then collect the sap for boiling down.
The Audubon Society also put on a fun "find the golden tap" hunt. If you took a picture with the golden tap somewhere out in the forest, you could enter into their raffle to win prizes like a GoPro Hero 3 cam (yeah!)
Lots of buckets and taps
Woo Hoo! Ian found it!
Back up near the sugarhouse, we participated in another Vermont tradition ... Sugar on Snow. Maple syrup is heated up until it's nice and molten. Then, you drizzle it very slowly over snow. The quick cooling of the syrup will cause it to form a sticky "taffy"-like treat. It came with a delicious cider donut and a dill pickle. Supposedly the saltiness of the pickle is good for cleansing the palate between tastings of different syrup grades, or simply to refresh the mouth after so much sweet stuff.
Success!
As long as there are warm fires around everywhere, the cold winter is doable :-p
There has been a big push by maple syrup makers to standardize the "grading" of the different syrups. Previously, names like "Grade A Fancy", "Grade A Medium Amber", "Grade A Dark Amber", etc were used (the right side of the chart below). However, within the next year or two all maple syrup producing areas (Vermont, Quebec, Ontario, New York, and Maine) will be on a uniform system. The reason for this was because consumers were tending to avoid purchasing "Grade B" syrups which actually have the most maple flavor. They opted instead for "Fancy" grade which, while having a nice delicate taste, was more like sugar water than maple syrup. Historically, this bias towards the lighter-flavored syrup was due to early Americans wanting to find a substitute for cane sugar. The lighter stuff was closer to the white sugar (sweetness but no other taste) compared to the stronger maple flavored syrups. The new grading system will allow consumers to purchase Grade B (previously unavailable) because Grade B will actually be "Grade A Dark with Robust Taste". The added descriptions of flavor profiles is anticipated to help consumers avoid bias in perceived quality (they're all equally good and heavily monitored for quality, fluid density, and lack of additives) and understand the only difference is based on strength of maple flavor. A "Grade A Golden Color with Delicate Taste" would be good for drizzling on top of ice cream, for example, but easily lost in baked goods.
Scenes like this all over the state
Making our way to lunch
Stopping for a quick bite at "On the Rise" bakery in Richmond, VT.
hey ... its our host J.'s hot sauce again!
Like I said... lots of dirt roads and snow make for muddy cars!
We were planning to head home but saw some signs on the side of the road for another maple syrup sugarhouse that was participating in the "open house weekend". Not knowing where we were going, or if we'd even find it, we drove up a winding road and reached the very end where we arrived at "End-O-Road Maple". View of Mt. Mansfield from the farm
yay, we found it!
Inside the sugarhouse ... various samples of syrup to help judge "grades"
The boiler evaporating off all the water to condense the syrup. Smells so good!
The family that runs this place was making waffles fresh off the griddle for us to drizzle syrup on. We ended up purchasing a cute little half-pint in the typical, iconic beige plastic jugs that you see everywhere in Vermont. Of course we opted for Grade A Dark Amber for a full, rich maple taste.
Finished the day at home with some showshoeing in the forest behind the house (4 feet deep snow), took a nice nap, collected 10 eggs from the chicken coop, and studied a bit for my biochem final I have to take on Thursday morning when we return.
It's been a really fun experience with J. and H. out here. I'm happy I was able to get a real feel for the "country" life of Vermont that I would not have experienced had I simply flown into Burlington for the interview and stayed at a generic hotel. What a fun few days. Tomorrow, we're off to Burlington! Time to start prepping for that interview .... but before going to bed, maybe we'll step outside to look at the gorgeous stars visible in the very dark sky. I don't think I've ever seen so many clear stars before - the sky totally unpolluted by light.
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