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New England Maple Syrup | |
| Maple syrup is brewed from the sap of the sugar maple tree on farms in all the New England states each March, then appears on breakfast tables to top pancakes or waffles the rest of the year. | ||
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Sugar syrup from tree sap? Yeah, it sounds highly unlikely, but I assure you it's true. Every spring, farmers in New England drive little pipes (taps) into the trunks of their sugar maple trees and hang buckets underneath the pipes to catch the sap, some of which drips out of the pipes as it rises within the tree trunk. A sugar maple (Acer saccharum) must be at least 40 years old, or about 10 inches (25.4 cm) in diameter to produce useful quantities of sap. On cold nights, tiny air bubbles within the trees contract, drawing sap up from the roots and into the tree, where it mixes with sugar in the wood, then freezes. As the day warms, the sugary sap thaws, the air bubbles expand, and the sap is forced back down. Some of the descending sap flows out the taps and into the buckets. The buckets are collected and brought to the sugar house, an outdoor shack containing a cauldron in which the sap is simmered for hours, driving off most of its moisture and reducing it to pure syrup. (Some modern farms now use miles of plastic piping that runs from the "sugar bush"—the grove of sugar maple trees—to the sugar house.) Sap contains an average of 4% sugar, but may hold more or less, depending on the particular year, its climate, and when the sap is collected. The sap collected earliest in the sugaring season has the highest sugar concentration. It takes between 40 and 43 gallons (151 to 163 liters) of 4%-sugar sap to produce one gallon (3.79 liters) of maple syrup. If the sugar content is below average, it may take twice as many gallons of sap to yield a gallon of syrup. The maple sugaring season is in late winter and early spring when the days are warm but nights chill—perfect conditions for the rising of the sap. It usually lasts four to six weeks. If the winter has been a mild one, the sap may start to run as early as February in southern New England, and may last well into April in northern New England, so the surest time to see sugaring in progress anywhere is March. New England produces about 1.14 million gallons of maple syrup annually, more than half of all the maple syrup produced in the USA. Vermont, the USA's largest maple syrup-producing state, makes an average of 460,000 gallons (1,741,289 liters) of syrup per year. New Hampshire produces 90,000 gallons, and Massachusetts 50,000 gallons. New York, Pennsylvania, several Midwest states and Canadian provinces are also substantial producers of maple syrup. There are various grades of maple syrup. The grading system used in Vermont includes Grade A Light Amber, Medium Amber and Dark Amber. Light Amber, also called Fancy, is produced from the earliest sap drippings. It has a lighter color and flavor. Dark Amber has a deeper, more intense color and flavor. Medium Amber is in between. Light Amber and Medium Amber are the preferred grades. Grade B, produced from sap near the end of sugaring season, is darker than Grade A Dark Amber, a bit coarse in flavor, and therefore better for cooking than using at the table. Maple syrup can be used as a sweetener with any food, but it's best on breakfast pancakes, waffles, french toast or sausages. Do you like baklava, the sweet flaky-pastry dessert of the eastern Mediterranean? It's traditionally made with honey and/or sugar syrup, but in Vermont you'll find it made with...maple syrup! |
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Above, buckets
catch
sugar maple sap dripping
from pipes driven into trees.
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