Maple Weekend
This past weekend was New Hampshire Maple Weekend. The fam and I got a chance to get in on a little bit of it. I had grand plans for more but they were partially interrupted by a volcano. Nevertheless, I prevailed and we squeezed in a couple visits.
The sap of Maple trees can be made into all sorts of things including candy, sugar, cream, and, of course, syrup. The places where those things are made are called sugar houses. Many New Hampshire sugar houses offer tours, samples, and lots of other fun stuff on one weekend, Maple Weekend, during the short ~6-week season.
I arrived in Manchester just after noon on Saturday. With lunch still to go, we missed most of the first day (and the second would be eaten up by church and other things). By the time we were ready to hit the sugar houses, we really only had time for two. That wound up being enough.
The first one we stopped by was Peterson Sugarhouse in Londonderry. Their sugar house is a more traditional style place. They have trees on their own property, some of which are tapped into lines draining into their large tank, and others of which sport the truly traditional buckets on the taps. Our tour began with the basics: 40 gallons of sap makes 1 gallon of syrup, the season lasts just over a month, and the freshly collected syrup is actually quite watery with just a faint maple taste. They collect sap from thousands of trees in the area in their truck and drain it into their large tank which adds to the smaller amount that they collect from their own sugar maple trees. From there, it runs through a hose, literally across their driveway, into the sugar house.
The rustic sugar house emitted a wonderful maple smell while we were learning all about the collection process. Just when we couldn't stand it anymore, it was time to go in and check it out. The piles of wood outside set the scene for the old-style operation they have. Inside the room was the wood-fired evaporator, a large unit maybe 3-4 feet wide and 10-12 feet deep. We got the full rundown on the whole process in there while it was in operation.
The sap runs through the hose into a preheater, then into a series of sections of the evaporator where the water is boiled out of the sap. 39 out of each 40 gallons is boiled off until it's ready to take out. It's filtered 7 times along the way, by the way. The syrup is taken out, tested, cooled some, and finally packaged (bottled) for sale. There are three tests, the density test (with a hydrometer), the color test (for the grade) and the taste test. They demonstrated the first two and let us do the third one over ice cream with maple glazed walnuts (I skipped the nuts). Was very yummy.
We wandered around the property a bit, seeing the trees plumbed with lines into the big tank, and checking out the pond. Then we hit the shop and picked up a small package of maple candy. We each enjoyed a piece while we drove to the second place.
The second place was quite a contrast from the first. It's a modern facility right on the road on the way home from the airport called Morning Star Maple Sugar House & Gift Shop. They don't have any of their own trees on the property (as far as I could tell, anyway). They collect sap from trees around the area and process it in their shiny new oil fired unit. It was larger than the other place and looked more precise and efficient.
The tour there was less formal and consisted of chit chatting with the guy who makes the syrup. He said the machine burns about 24 gallons per hour of oil and makes about 12 gallons of sap in that time. Of course, the cost of the couple gallons of oil it takes to make a gallon of syrup is only a fraction of the retail cost of the syrup, which runs $50 or more. This ain't 'pancake' syrup, it's the real stuff and it's yummy. We picked up more goodies there and made our way home. Now we have fudge, candy, cream (spread, kinda like butter) and sugar to enjoy, as well as some neat memories learning how real maple syrup is made.
V-
The sap of Maple trees can be made into all sorts of things including candy, sugar, cream, and, of course, syrup. The places where those things are made are called sugar houses. Many New Hampshire sugar houses offer tours, samples, and lots of other fun stuff on one weekend, Maple Weekend, during the short ~6-week season.
I arrived in Manchester just after noon on Saturday. With lunch still to go, we missed most of the first day (and the second would be eaten up by church and other things). By the time we were ready to hit the sugar houses, we really only had time for two. That wound up being enough.
The first one we stopped by was Peterson Sugarhouse in Londonderry. Their sugar house is a more traditional style place. They have trees on their own property, some of which are tapped into lines draining into their large tank, and others of which sport the truly traditional buckets on the taps. Our tour began with the basics: 40 gallons of sap makes 1 gallon of syrup, the season lasts just over a month, and the freshly collected syrup is actually quite watery with just a faint maple taste. They collect sap from thousands of trees in the area in their truck and drain it into their large tank which adds to the smaller amount that they collect from their own sugar maple trees. From there, it runs through a hose, literally across their driveway, into the sugar house.
The rustic sugar house emitted a wonderful maple smell while we were learning all about the collection process. Just when we couldn't stand it anymore, it was time to go in and check it out. The piles of wood outside set the scene for the old-style operation they have. Inside the room was the wood-fired evaporator, a large unit maybe 3-4 feet wide and 10-12 feet deep. We got the full rundown on the whole process in there while it was in operation.
The sap runs through the hose into a preheater, then into a series of sections of the evaporator where the water is boiled out of the sap. 39 out of each 40 gallons is boiled off until it's ready to take out. It's filtered 7 times along the way, by the way. The syrup is taken out, tested, cooled some, and finally packaged (bottled) for sale. There are three tests, the density test (with a hydrometer), the color test (for the grade) and the taste test. They demonstrated the first two and let us do the third one over ice cream with maple glazed walnuts (I skipped the nuts). Was very yummy.
We wandered around the property a bit, seeing the trees plumbed with lines into the big tank, and checking out the pond. Then we hit the shop and picked up a small package of maple candy. We each enjoyed a piece while we drove to the second place.
The second place was quite a contrast from the first. It's a modern facility right on the road on the way home from the airport called Morning Star Maple Sugar House & Gift Shop. They don't have any of their own trees on the property (as far as I could tell, anyway). They collect sap from trees around the area and process it in their shiny new oil fired unit. It was larger than the other place and looked more precise and efficient.
The tour there was less formal and consisted of chit chatting with the guy who makes the syrup. He said the machine burns about 24 gallons per hour of oil and makes about 12 gallons of sap in that time. Of course, the cost of the couple gallons of oil it takes to make a gallon of syrup is only a fraction of the retail cost of the syrup, which runs $50 or more. This ain't 'pancake' syrup, it's the real stuff and it's yummy. We picked up more goodies there and made our way home. Now we have fudge, candy, cream (spread, kinda like butter) and sugar to enjoy, as well as some neat memories learning how real maple syrup is made.
V-