Wednesday, March 31, 2010

WE VISIT THE SUGAR HOUSE



This is our second spring in New England and our last.  We are moving out west this summer so we couldn't miss visiting a real New England sugar house this month.  
My mother was here from Oklahoma for a visit and on our way home from church Sunday we saw this sign out on the road and made a quick turn.


It is amazing that something so sweet and delicious comes from a little hole tapped into a tree.  They still drill a hole and attach a bucket just like Laura describes in the Little House series.  There is a little new technology, but it is old fashioned goodness just the same.
My boys were fascinated by the machinery of course.  The bubbling vat of sap, straight from the tree, heated by a wood fire.
The gentlemen were happy to explain the process and show us around.  We even tasted some samples.
We were especially fascinated by the grades of syrup.  The earlier run is lighter in color and sweet and buttery in flavor.  This is classified as Grade A maple syrup.   The later run is cooked longer to condense the sweetness and is much darker in color and has a stronger more caramelized maple flavor.  This Grade B syrup was our favorite!  In fact I bought a 1/2 gallon jug.
  My Saturday morning pancakes eagerly await.

1 comment:

Corinne Cunningham said...

How cool!
Good luck with the move :)