It’s occurred to me that I have not really said too much about Vermont. So for those of you who don’t know much about it, I’ll give you some facts. Vermont is 9,609 square miles small. Yes it’s a small state, but most of New England states are small.
The highest mountain is Mount Mansfield, at 4,395 ft. high. It’s in Stowe, which is a famous ski resort town. Skiing is big business in Vermont, with several large ski resorts around the state. The Van Trapp lodge is in Stowe, which is run by the family that movie “the sound of music” was based on.
Vermont boarders Massachusetts on the south, New Hampshire on the east, Canada on the north and New York on the west. Lake Champlain makes much of the boarder between New York and Vermont and is the 6th largest fresh water lake in the US. (more…)
So how is everyone’s week going? Seems like they are getting longer and longer until the weekend, haha! Well I thought I’d make today’s post on the different types of products that are made from pure Vt. maple syrup. Yes there are a lot more uses than just as a syrup.
If you heat the maple syrup just right you can make all kinds of different things with it. From maple sugar, cream, candy, fudge and lots more, Vt. maple syrup can be used for lots of tasty products. Below is a short list of maple products that you can find. (more…)
So what’s everybody doing this fine Sunday! The weather is getting warmer, I sure look forward to summer after this long winter. Well, today I thought I would explain about the different types of Vt. maple syrup grades. You see, maple syrup does not come in just one taste or color.
If its fake maple syrup made in a factory then they can pump out the same stuff batch after batch. But because real Vt. maple syrup is pure organic with nothing added, different batches can look and taste different. So, we made different labels for them.
When the sap first starts to run, it tends to be clearer and lighter, so the maple syrup is also clearer and lighter. As the season starts to end the sap gets a bit darker and heavier. Also sap can vary from tree to tree. So just what is the best grade of Vt. maple syrup? (more…)
Hi everyone. Today I thought I’d write about something many people don’t know about. What is maple syrup? Seems like a no brainer, but a lot of people don’t really know the difference between fake and real maple syrup. What’s even more confusing is the labels that are allowed on them.
Just the other day I was in the supermarket, and picked up a very well known brand of maple syrup. Right on the label it said “100% pure maple syrup”. I was surprised at that, because I knew that could not be true. So I looked at the ingredients. Sure enough it was processed sugar, flavoring, additives, everything but maple syrup!
In fact it had no maple syrup in it whatsoever! Well how can they call it that then, they have to be truthful with food labels. Well, it’s because it just said it was maple syrup. NOT pure maple syrup, or Vermont pure maple syrup. The fact is, you can mix up some sugar and flavoring and legally call it maple syrup! (more…)
Well it’s spring, time here in Vermont when the snow melts, the creeks overflow and frost heaves make huge holes in the road. It’s also the time we get lots and lots of mud! Vermont is a very rural state, so we have lots of dirt roads. In the spring those roads can get pretty nasty.
Cars and trucks get stuck in the mud all the time during mud season. It must be a great time for the tow truck drivers! Because maple sugaring is in early spring, sometimes mud can be a big problem. A large sugaring operation can involve hundreds of acres of maple sugar woods.
So to get to those maple trees they make small roads in the woods to get to them. Sometimes they use tractors, sometimes horses, sometimes even logging skidders. If we get a really fast thaw it only takes a few trips down those roads before they are all mud. (more…)
