You can’t get much closer to authentic New England than a sugarhouse in March. I have fond memories of looking into open vats of boiling maple sap. This was in and around a cold walk outside to watch the sap drip into buckets that were nailed onto trees and then sharing a dill pickle served with maple syrup. (If you’re not mad about maple on that dill pickle, they usually serve coffee and homemade donuts too.)
It takes about forty gallons of maple sap to make one gallon of maple syrup. New England produces millions of gallons of maple syrup. I would venture to say that sugarhouses are still very much a family oriented business though many have shut down over the years in response to the stiff competition of big business. Some persevere even though it is no longer a profitable enterprise because that is what their families have always done.
March is generally the time when sugarhouses are boiling sap and open to customers. I can’t recall being in any New England sugarhouse where you weren’t welcome to ask questions and watch the sap-to-maple syrup process. If you like maple syrup, do consider real maple syrup. If you’re in New England, please give the local syrup a try. If you are traveling in New England in March, check out a maple sugar shack. If you live in New England, consider making your own. My brother would tap his maple tree and generally get a gallon of syrup each season.
Click HERE for general information on maple sugar.
Click HERE for a short list of New England sugarhouses.
TATTOO—Journeys on My Mind by Tina Marie L. Lamb…GET the audio book (7 hours, 13 minutes) at Barnes and Noble or Google Play or Chirpbooks or Kobo or AudiobooksNow or Downpour or The Podcast App or Scribd or Overdrive. On iTunes, click on audiobooks and search by author. GET the paperback (232 pages) or e-book at Barnes and Noble, at Apple Books or at Amazon. The ebook is also at Smashwords.
Characters of Huffinfield by Tina Marie L. Lamb is now available as an ebook or a paperback at Barnes and Noble and at Amazon. The ebook is also available at Kobo and at Smashwords.
Buy it. Read it. Let me know what you think.
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