How Sweet It Is
Just mention the Vermont name to anyone that doesn’t live here and you’ll likely receive one of a few common responses; the state’s beauty, Ben & Jerry’s, our Autumn foliage, Bernie, and skiing often top these replies. However, there is one thing so ubiquitous to the state that it is known to all: maple syrup. That sweet, sticky, golden amber syrup poured across so many pancakes is enjoyed each morning by young and old alike. Maple syrup has adorned the breakfast tables of so many for decades.
Anyone who’s ever seen a postcard from the area or any movie based in New England is familiar with the image of the old, beat-up metal bucket hanging from a nail on the side of the tree. Many may even know that it’s the tree’s sap collected through a slow and steady drip that this bucket is meant to collect. But what happens next? How does this become syrup? And what happens in a sugarhouse??
Curious to know the answers, I reached out to my friends John and Phoebe at Sticky’s Maple Works to ask these questions and was graciously invited out to their sugarhouse to see the process and ask all the questions I wanted. Located about 15 minutes north of Stowe and just outside the north end of Putnam State Forest, Sticky’s sugarhouse sits unassumingly among the farms and homes of the area. Only a small stand at the roadside gives indication that the building is anything other than a home.
Stepping out of the car I meet Tom, who’s smile is immediately infectious, and encouraged to “just go on inside”. So very Vermont. Skirting by industrial machinery that I will soon come to understand and entering the main part of the small house, I find John in the kitchen having a couple of cookies for breakfast. I’m introduced to Big John, who’s smile rivals that of Tom. What’s immediately clear is that this group of friends really love what they are doing and who they’re working with.
Chatting is interspersed with shop talk and I soon learn that this group collaborates to collect and process the syrup to then distribute the finished product across their respective businesses. After one more cookie, John leads us back into the sugaring space and begins to show me about. Peering into the long tub of recently collected sap I comment on the pale emerald-green colour of the liquid. John replies that the colour can vary, sometime significantly, from year to year based on the seasonal conditions. In his 40 plus years of sugaring he’s even seen it to be a bright green. We talk a bit about how the syrup will change in flavour year to year based on the environmental conditions; the parallel to wine is not lost on me.
Moving down the line I’m shown my first piece of processing equipment, a reverse osmosis (RO) machine that’s set to remove water from the sap. This step is somewhat young in the sugaring process but has been widely adopted as it increases the sugar percentage in the sap prior to boiling, effectively lowering the energy consumption of the boiling process and helping to ensure more consistent results. The piece I’m shown is much larger than any home filtration system I’m ever seen but, I’m assured this is a small unit for the industry. As John talks about the process and how they reuse the extracted water to clean the equipment, Big John pops in to let us know he needs to do some work for his business, Elmore Mountain Works, but will be back.
Emerald-green sap
At this point in the process the liquid they have been working with, the sap collected from their sugarbush, would taste only like slightly sweet water. The RO machine increases that sweetness but, there’s none of that familiar caramelly richness that one would recognize. The next step on the production line is where the flavour really comes in and the thickness moves to that delectable ooze we love. We have come to the Arch.
For decades of sugaring history, the Arch had been heated by a wood fire along the underside. If you happen upon an old sugar shack, you may notice a small door to what one might assume is a basement or crawl space but, that is likely where the wood was fed into the fire. Wood has always been plentiful in this state and so, it remained that way for decades. Today virtually all sugarhouses have moved to either oil or gas heat. The change has made the boiling process far more precise with increased control of the heat resulting in higher consistency and reduced lost production. Additionally, Arches now have various methods to automatically feed in more sap when it needs, regulate the flow of liquid, collect the extracted water through condensation, and provide the team with ways to ensure high quality product.
This long, shining contraption made of stainless steel with pipes, levers, and gauges protruding all along its sides is initially quite daunting. However, as John points along the pipes and chambers, the flow of the machine becomes apparent. The sap, after leaving the RO machine, is brought in through pipework to the main boiling chamber where it is heated to a boiling point. As the water content is boiled off, the viscosity of the liquid thickens. This transformation causes an amazing natural feat of separating the soon-to-be-syrup and moving it through the internal chambers of the Arch. Eventually the sap will make its way into the final three chambers outside the main boiling space, the last of which contains what is considered syrup.
With this cursory knowledge of sugaring, I’m invited to go wander about their sugarbush to see the collection lines. A short drive away and a walk up a hill I’m now standing in among the very trees that provide the initial liquid that will become syrup. As an average it takes 40 gallons of pure sap from these trees to make 1 gallon of syrup. However, Sticky’s and friends choose to tap primarily red maple, which they believe creates a superior taste, and they need 50 gallons for each gallon of syrup. Additionally, this trio of friends have a tremendous amount of respect for these trees, rarely inserting more than one tap into a single tree and alternating trees to let them rest between seasons. This choice for sustainability over profits runs deep in this state. I spend some time listening to the wind pass through the treetops and the water from melting snow trickles down the hillside before I head out.
Back at the sugarshack, boiling is in full swing. Each of the trio is manning a station and moving about checking gauges and sap levels. I’m shown around the Arch as it’s doing its work, being particularly aware of the places Big John says are “hot” (the whole thing feels hot but I’m going to head the wise words!). I’m allowed to pop my head into the sliding doors to see the sap boiling away; the aroma of syrup fills my nose with delight. Tom points out how the steam is collecting above the boiling sap and channeled out into water collection tanks, also used for cleaning. John shows me how he uses a hydrometer to ensure the sugar percentage. And, after sufficient cooling first, given samples of freshly made maple syrup.
If one were to pause at this point and take in that this tiny state of Vermont creates over 50% of the nation’s maple syrup from its more than 3,000 sugarhouses, and observe that this traditional morning condiment is so intrinsically tied to Vermont’s land, forests, ecology, and, most importantly, weather, fold in that the syrup industry can only harvest sap in the few weeks of early Spring, beginning with the first thaw and stopping with the first bud of the trees, one just might take a moment longer to marvel at the delightful sweetness that sits so unassumingly in the cupboard.
And maybe it was spending the day with this team but that is the best damned syrup I’ve ever had.
Sticky’s Maple Works is located in Elmore. Their syrup can be purchased at their road-side shop, at selected famer’s markets, and online.
Elmore Mountain Mapleworks is also in Elmore and their syrup can be purchased online.
The Sugar Shack is located in North Carolina. Their syrup can be purchased online and look out for the Sticky Bus at NC music festivals this summer.
