When you think of maple syrup, you may think of pancakes, and also autumn: the golden halo of trees, the blushing leaves, pumpkins, cider.
But the time for maple syrup production is actually right now.
It is only when freezing nights give way to mild daytime temperatures that sap starts flowing.
In the beginning, it’s stop and go. “[The trees] slowly wake up, and then they’re like, ‘OK, we’re awake, let’s go, let’s get the show on the road!’” said Tina Hartell. “As the season progresses, the floodgates open. You’re just buried in sap. That’s where we are right now—it’s just flowing like crazy.”
Hartell makes maple syrup at Bobo’s Mountain Sugar in Weston, Vermont. In these parts, before cheap cane sugar entered the picture, sugar made from maple was the default sweetener.
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Earlier in the season, tap holes are drilled into the bark, and the sap flows into plastic tubing connected to a holding tank. But the tank can only hold so much—which is why, during one recent evening in late March at the James Beard House where maple syrup was the theme of the dinner, Hartell was the only half of the duo attending from Bobo’s Mountain Sugar.
Her partner, Skye Chalmers, was tending to the fires and boiling away the sap, well past the dinner, until 11:30 p.m.
The boils are done in the late afternoon or in the evening, although during peak production times, a daytime boil may be necessary as well.
Sap has the consistency of water and is clear, with just a slight hint of sweetness. The sugar content is anywhere from 1 to 4 percent sugar, said Hartell, who is a former high school science teacher. Last year, sap had a high sugar content across the board, while this year, producers are seeing a lower amount of sugar, which means more sap is needed to make the same amount of maple syrup. It takes 40 to 70 gallons of sap to make 1 gallon of maple syrup.
It’s all speculation why the sugar content is lower this year, said Hartell. Last year the maple trees produced a large quantity of seeds, which depleted a lot of their resources—and now they’re recuperating, she said. This phenomenon happens cyclically, every five to seven years.
This winter has also been unusually warm. It’s the first time that Hartell remembers starting to make syrup in February. And she never donned snowshoes this season. “Normally I’m in snowshoes in 4 feet of snow,” she said.
In any case, as the season wears on, jackets and hats give way to T-shirts, and the boils at the sugar house make for social occasions.
“Winters are really long in Vermont, they start in November and end in April,” Hartell said. “Everyone kind of comes out of the woodwork. They become these potlucks. People bring beer, and everyone checks in and catches up after a winter.”
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The fare is perhaps a tad bit different from what you might see at the Beard House, something Hartell reflected about as she returned home to Vermont.
“There’s a lot of grilled meats, junk foods like chips, salsa, dips. It’s not the healthiest food” at the boil gatherings, she said.
If you ask the chefs who cooked at the James Beard House dinner, there is plenty of nostalgia around maple syrup.
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Chef Matt Jennings of Townsman in Boston, who braised short ribs in maple syrup for the dinner and paired it with kimchi, grew up on maple syrup. His mother would use it to cook “incredible beans,” as well as chili.
