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| Every "Mom and Pop" business in Vermont sells Maple Syrup! |
You’ve heard of the Five food groups.
The State of Vermont has added a Sixth: Maple
Vermont is the number one maple syrup producing state in the country. They're proud of it, and while you’re touring the state they don’t let you forget it. During my last couple trips to Vermont I sampled these foods:
maple sugar sprinkles,
maple-leaf sugar candy,
maple creemees (soft-serve ice cream),
maple shakes,
maple malts,
maple french-roast coffee,
maple-bacon ice cream,
maple-bacon cream cheese,
maple-chocolate topping,
maple ricotta,
maple-mustard dressing,
maple scones,
maple sparkler (a dessert liquor),
maple sticky buns,
maple sugar-coated walnuts and, of course,
maple syrup.
Let’s see, have I forgotten anything? Oh yes, maple lemonade.
maple-leaf sugar candy,
maple creemees (soft-serve ice cream),
maple shakes,
maple malts,
maple french-roast coffee,
maple-bacon ice cream,
maple-bacon cream cheese,
maple-chocolate topping,
maple ricotta,
maple-mustard dressing,
maple scones,
maple sparkler (a dessert liquor),
maple sticky buns,
maple sugar-coated walnuts and, of course,
maple syrup.
Let’s see, have I forgotten anything? Oh yes, maple lemonade.
Not surprisingly then, maple syrup is for sale everywhere. There are the large “touristy” maple farms sure, but every small farm stand and general store sells maple syrup too. As does almost every other business. I saw signs reading “Hay and Maple Syrup”, and “Farm Supplies and Maple Syrup”. I expected to see a business advertising: “Tires and Maple Syrup”. Perhaps I did.
All of this maple madness begs the question: "Is there such a thing as too much maple?"
My answer is....."No". When in Vermont, saturate yourself in the Sixth food group!
Readers, do you agree?
Readers, do you agree?
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| If I could, I would probably bring a jug this size of syrup home with me. |
6 comments:
A very enjoyable report, Rita! I trust you found a reasonable-size jug of maple syrup to bring home with you. :-)
Further regarding maple syrup, there are those (including someone in my family) who are ardent aficionados of this “sixth food-group”. These folks are sort of like oenophiles in that there is a strong preference for syrup from certain producers, production date, grade of the syrup, etc, etc.
John
Yes, Tim and I found two reasonable sized jugs of syrup to mail home!
That's interesting news about the "maplephiles"—sounds like a group I might want to join!
We found our syrup at a small family-owned place on the outskirts of Danby. The producer is named "Blow Hill Maple Products". I'd be interested to know if your family member knows anything about this producer or his reputation?
Thanks as always for your comments, John!
Hi Rita, my apologies for the delayed reply.
Blow Hill Maple Products is about a 3-hour drive from our home in Bethlehem, NH. Since we have an abundance of maple syrup vendors much closer to home, no one here has any experience with syrup from that producer.
However, below is a distillation of general comments from my “syrup gurus”. :-)
The building where the maple syrup is produced is called a sugarhouse, and the person who makes the maple syrup is called a sugarmaker. A primary objective of a syrup connoisseur is to get a syrup that was produced by a single sugarmaker, rather than one that is an amalgam of syrups produced by different sugarmakers.
As the maple tree ages, so does the mellowness of the syrup. And of course, the grades from light to dark are dependent on the early to late runs of collection. Light is good for eating, dark for cooking as the flavor is deeper.
And lastly, you might have already come across the link below, but if not, then you might find it of interest.
https://cbmaplefarm.com/grades-of-maple-syrup/
John
Thanks for all the good information, John.
I believe the syrup we purchased from Blow Hill was produced by a single sugarmaker—at least that's what the proprietor there told us. So, it sounds as though that's a good thing. We have enjoyed the syrup (Amber Light) on pancakes the past two weekends!
Thanks again for replying to my inquiry.
Maplemania indeed! Here in India, sugar is drawn out of the date palm tree and cooked to give a dark brown liquid and then solidified into bars and rounds. During the cold season, this date palm jaggery is used in preparing various sweetmeats and I happen to be eating one right now after dinner, filled with the dark brown syrup inside :)
I've never heard of date palm sweets but they sound delicious.
I hope you're enjoying all sorts of treats this holiday season. Thanks for your comments!
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