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March 2008
All Things Maple
Watch this VPT & You spot by clicking here.
Legend has it that Native Americans observed the red squirrel eating the cured sap from the maple tree and thereby discovered maple syrup.
Because of Vermont’s perfect climate and soil conditions for the growth of maples, we are the largest producer of pure maple syrup in the U.S.
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7th Annual Maple Open House Weekend
March is the height of sugaring season, so it’s a great time to visit one of Vermont’s many authentic sugarhouses, and sample the different grades of syrup to see which one you like best. Tour a sugarhouse in your area during the 7th Annual Maple Open House Weekend, March 28–30.
Of course, there are more products than just syrup:
- Granulated Maple Sugar/stirred sugar/Indian sugar
- Maple Cream
- Maple Fudge
- Maple Sugar Cakes
- Hard Maple Sugar or block sugar
And many local products that use maple syrup:
- Maple salad dressings
- Maple coated nuts
- Maple cotton candy
- Maple snow cones
- Maple creemees
- Maple lollipops
- Maple jelly
- Maple vodka
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VPT Cooks: Maple Time
For great ideas on cooking with maple, be sure to watch VPT Cooks: Maple Time:
- Saturday, March 8, 2 pm (Premiere)
- Saturday, March 19, 12 Noon (Repeat)
- Wednesday, March 12, 9 am (Repeat)
Executive chef Sean Buchanan heats up the VPT kitchen for our latest live cooking extravaganza. Sean will be joined by local chefs and sugar makes demonstrating their favorite maple recipes and savoring the sweet taste of Vermont maple. |
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The 42nd Annual Vermont Maple Festival
There’s something for everyone at the 42nd Annual Vermont Maple Festival in St. Albans, April 25–27. Maple exhibits, contests and demonstrations, crafts and arts, show and sale, sugarhouse tours, carnival rides, games for children of all ages, and more. Don’t miss The Annual Maple Festival Parade on Sunday, at 1 pm. For more information and a schedule of events, visit the Vermont Maple Festival’s website. |
Community Resources: Events, Recipes, Fun Facts & More!
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Dakin Farm
5797 Route 7
Ferrisburgh, VT 05456
100 Dorset Street
South Burlington, VT 05403
1-800-99-DAKIN
See How It's Done - Have you ever seen how Vermont maple syrup is made? Dakin farm boils pure maple syrup with the same pride, care and tradition that Timothy Dakin used when he first established the farm in 1792. Don't forget to see their educational maple syrup movie and take the tour of the maple syrup cannery.
Join Dakin Farm for their annual delicious and topped-with-fun Sugar on Snow parties. Get a taste of this year's newest crop of pure Vermont maple syrup over spring snow or ice cream. Stop in to their Annual Pancake Breakfasts for some mouthwatering buttermilk pancakes, bacon and sausage. Savor a sausage hoagie cooked in sap
or a bowl of our very own maple chili for lunch. Click here for schedule information and be sure to check out the delicious maple recipes. |
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Leader Evaporator Company, Inc.
49 Jonergin Drive
Swanton, VT 05488
802-868-5444
Rutland Retail Outlet
2 Pine Street
Rutland, VT 05701
802-775-5411
Leader Evaporator Company, Inc. originated in Enosburg Falls, in 1888 for the purpose of manufacturing equipment for the production of maple syrup. Leader Evaporator is the maple sugaring industry's only U.S.-based company offering a complete line of equipment, supplies, tools, and containers used for the production of maple syrup, maple cream, maple candy, maple sugar, and much more.
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Morse Farm
1168 County Road
Montpelier, VT 05602
1-800-242-2740
The Morse Farm is open daily to visitors year-round. Free sugar house tours and tasting, multimedia displays in a real woodshed theater, a nature trail, country store, and an outdoor Vermont farm life museum make up the Morse Farm experience, and sprinkled throughout, are whimsical carved folklife characters created by Burr Morse.
Visit their website to learn about the history of maple and for maple recipes. |
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New England Maple Museum
P.O. Box 1615
Rutland, VT 05701
802-483-9414
The New England Maple Museum is conveniently located in the heart of Maple Country, nestled in the foothills of the Green Mountains, where Vermont’s finest maple syrup
is made.
The museum offers a trip through over 200 years of maple sugaring history starting with the Native American discovery that maple sap cooked over an open fire produces a sweet syrup. Today, the sweet aroma of sap permeating the air, still harkens the arrival of spring in Vermont. A tour of the New England Maple Museum brings it all to life, click here for tour info, rates and hours |
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Proctor Maple Research Center
P.O. Box 233, Harvey Road
Underhill, VT 05489
802-899-9926 (Research)
802-899-4923 (Sugaring)
pmrc@uvm.edu
The Proctor Maple Research Center consists of about 200 acres of wooded and open land. Approximately 35–40 acres is an actively managed sugarbush for maple syrup production and research. The main laboratory building, constructed in 1988, and expanded in 1994, contains modern research facilities, offices, a kitchen, workshops and a conference room accommodating up to 75 people and equipped for presentations and teaching (the conference room is available to UVM Departments and other organizations for classroom teaching, meetings, and retreats). The sugarhouse is used for research and maple syrup production. Other buildings include the Maple Production Research Facility, sap storage and barrel storage sheds and several small outlying research buildings.
Visit the Center’s website for maple facts, related links and publications.
You may also want to visit the UVM Extension Maple website. There you’ll find publications online, the Maple Calendar and the Maple Mainline Newsletter. |
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Shelburne Farms
1611 Harbor Road
Shelburne, VT 05482
802-985-8686
Shelburne Farms is a membership-supported, nonprofit environmental education center and National Historic Landmark on the shores of Lake Champlain in Shelburne. Their mission is to cultivate a conservation ethic. Schoolchildren, adults, educators and families go there to learn, while casual visitors may enjoy the walking trails, children’s farmyard, inn, restaurant, property tours and special events. The farm serves as an educational resource by practicing rural land use that is environmentally, economically and culturally sustainable.
Join community members for a potluck supper on Sunday, March 9, at 5 pm to celebrate sugaring season! The Farm’s cookbook, “Cooking with Shelburne Farms: Food and Stories from Vermont” has two chapters devoted to maple recipes to inspire you, or make one of your own favorites featuring maple. Shelburne Farms will provide a choice of entrees and co-authors Melissa Pasanen and Rick Gencarelli and the Farm’s sugarmaker, Mark Klonicke will be on hand. The fee is $10/person (ages 10+); children under 10 free, to register please call 802-985-8686 x341.
During Maple Open House Weekend, Saturday and Sunday, March 29 and 30, visit their sugarbush on Saturday for some hands-on maple activities with Shelburne Farms educators–from tapping a tree to sugar on snow! On Sunday visitors will be able to take a self-guided tour of the sugarbush and see the sugarhouse in action. Also that weekend don’t miss their Pancake Breakfasts, Saturday & Sunday, March 29 and 30, from 9 am–12 pm, Fee: $7/adult; $4/child at the McClure Center for School Programs. No registration required. Come enjoy pancakes topped with Shelburne Farms’ very own syrup, offered by the Shelburne Explorers 4-H Club as a benefit for their dairy project.
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Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food & Markets
116 State Street
Montpelier, VT 05620
802-828-2416
In addition to The Agency of Agriculture’s retail Seal of Quality inspections of maple syrup, they provide assistance to the maple producers in several areas. Technical assistance is offered to producers who encounter quality problems with their product. These problems range from syrup darkening in color, to off-flavors. Office and field staff work with producers and offer suggestions on how to correct problems.
The maple dealer/processor licensing program has been stable with 14 dealers/processors being licensed each year. This licensing requires continuous monitoring of imported syrup and deals with labeling of syrup sold to consumers. Section personnel review records of licensees to ensure compliance with state and U.S. Customs regulations.
Testing maple syrup for lead has been emphasized during the past biennium. Concern over the presence of lead in the food we eat, particularly for young children, has initiated a massive testing effort by the department and sugarmakers themselves. Over 200 samples of syrup were tested by the department as well as several hundred by the Maple Sugarmakers Association and by individual sugarmakers. |
And be sure to watch VPT & You on-air updates, airing throughout
our program schedule.
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