Late winter and early spring mark the start of a sweet time for maple sap harvesters across New England.
In the Monadnock region, the six-week window goes by in the blink of an eye — just ask Lyndeborough-based Mtn-Gold Maple Mill owners Jack Slater and Debbie Fogg.
“I’ve still got 200 of 500 taps left to do,” Slater said, after a seemingly endless snowy winter ate into precious sap-tapping time. “Fortunately, the snow helps extend the season a bit as it keeps the tree from thawing too fast.”
According to Slater, who has been in the business for more than 30 years, sap production is a fickle process. “It has to be just below freezing at night and no warmer than 40 degrees during the day for sap to run,” he said. Anything outside of that temperature window makes obtaining sap nearly impossible.
Slater produces between 80 and 150 gallons of syrup per season, though it’s a painstaking process.
“First you have to tap the trees, then feed the sap into 350-gallon collector tubs every other day,” Slater said. “Then I boil the sap at 218 degrees in an evaporator, which removes water from the sugar.”
Slater gets about one gallon of pure maple syrup for every 40 gallons of sap. “It’s a lot of work for one man, but I love it.”
By his account, he runs a small operation compared to other producers in the region. What separates Slater’s business from others is his dedicated customers.
“They come to us every year during Maple Weekend for our old-fashioned maple syrup,” he said. “People come in and stay for hours, just hanging out, enjoying the smell of boiling syrup.”
So what does a small-time producer like Mtn-Gold Maple Mill do with its unbottled syrup? Fogg likes to make treats.
“Debbie makes maple kettle corn, maple candies and maple brittle,” Slater said.
Fogg’s maple brittle is made with dark maple syrup, sugar, butter and nuts. “The brittle is made with peanuts, almonds, cashews and other nuts,” she said. “It’s soft, so it won’t break your teeth.”
Parker’s Maple Barn owners Ron Roberts Jr. and his wife, Tanya Roberts, run a slightly larger operation tapping around 1,300 trees each season. Serving as both a maple mill and a restaurant, they often experiment with maple dishes.
Tanya highlighted “salted maple cold foam cold brew” as a popular beverage at the Mason restaurant. Ron said it’s made with milk, cream, salt, espresso and fresh maple syrup. “We squeeze it from a French press and whip it,” he said.
According to Ron, time is a factor in boiling maple syrup. “Standard syrup is 67% sugar and the rest water,” he said. “But if you boil it longer and remove almost all of the water, you can get granulated maple sugar.”
By adjusting the boiling time, Ron can produce maple-based ingredients for various dishes, from candies to glazes.
One entree the restaurant serves is maple-flavored ribs. “Our baby back ribs are made with salt and pepper and braised with maple before we slow cook it at high temperatures for at least seven hours,” Ron said.
Tanya said their homemade baked beans also pair well with the ribs. “It has cider, vinegar, garlic and onion salt and very dark maple syrup,” she said.
In New Ipswich, maple season has been an 18-year family affair for Somero Maple Farm.
At 12 years old, owner Reuben Somero and his older brother, Peter, started with 20 taps in 2008. Since then, the business has grown to nearly 4,300 taps.
While their father, Roger, and their combined 12 children help harvest and process the sap into pure maple syrup, their mother, Cathy and Reuben’s wife, Meghan, use it in creative ways.
Meghan loves making maple and waffle pancakes for the kids.
Her recipe uses six eggs, two cups of cottage cheese, two cups of oatmeal, two teaspoons of baking powder, 1 1/2 teaspoons of oil and a teaspoon of vanilla.
“I throw it all in a blender, blend it for about two minutes, pour it on the griddle and let it cook,” Meghan said, topping it off with the farm’s pure maple syrup.
Cathy makes a maple pecan pie “that’s to die for.”
Her pie starts with a quarter cup of melted butter added to a half cup of sugar, half a teaspoon of salt, one cup of Somero’s dark maple syrup and three eggs. The ingredients are then beaten until well blended. She then adds a cup of pecan halves and puts it all in an eight-inch unbaked pie crust.
“You pour the filling into a pastry-lined pie pan, bake it at 350 degrees for about 35 minutes or until the filling is set and the pastry is nicely browned,” she said.
Cathy also enjoys maple beverages and makes two simple recipes.
“Pure maple soda is refreshing,” she said. “Just take a 12-ounce can of carbonated water and add pure maple syrup for whatever the desired taste.” She said the syrup provides a healthier, all-natural sweetener.
“Another one I love is maple milk,” she added. “You add the maple syrup like it’s chocolate syrup and then stir it.”
Cathy said darker maple syrup strengthens the flavor. Roger agreed and said the darker, the better.
According to Roger, temperature fluctuations impact the syrup’s color. “Cold weather produces a lighter color, while warmer temps make it darker,” he said.
One other recipe the Someros recommended was cinnamon-infused syrup. They place a cinnamon stick in dark syrup, creating a spiced flavor profile.
