Maple Syrup: a local discovery

Did you know that maple syrup can come from any maple tree - even the ones outside of Vermont and Canada?!?  Well, apparently the answer is yes, it can.

I recently discovered a local farm that makes maple syrup and since we've been on a pancake kick lately, I planned a little field trip. (I should really learn my husband's whole-grain pancake recipe and share it.  It's that good!)

Here's what I learned.

Any maple tree can make maple syrup.  Even the one in our front yard (!) but it takes a lot of sap to make syrup.  From a hard maple tree it takes 40 gallons of sap to make one gallon of syrup.  It takes 60 gallons from a soft maple... so much for the one in my front yard.

It takes many hours and even up to days (Little House on the Prairie style) to reduce it down that far.  The farm where we went recently got a new "oven," which reduced their boiling time to only about 5 hours.

Maple syrup tastes different depending on where and how the tree is grown.  It's kind of like wine.  I wouldn't call myself a connoisseur of maple syrup (or of anything really!) but this stuff was delicious.  It tastes a little like caramel.  Yum!

And, yes, it's already half gone!

Oh, and it's cooooold when the sap flows!!  Temperatures need to be freezing over night and just above freezing during the day.  Once that fluctuation in temperatures changes so does the sap and the "season" is over.
 
What local treasures are waiting for you just outside your back door?  

Peace,

Stacey