Tapping the Source

My friend Carl keeps a small jug of pure Vermont maple syrup in his car. He just can’t face breakfast on the road without it.

Driving the back roads of Vermont last March--the height of sap season in these parts--I thought of Carl. Here, the muddy roads are lined with maple trees, and it seems every tree is adorned with a tin bucket necklace to collect the precious sap. This is maple syrup paradise.

Vermont, after all, produces one-third of the U.S. syrup supply; the state estimates the maple syrup industry to be worth about $105 million.

This part of the country, where American Indians first practiced the art of “sugaring” and passed their knowledge on to British colonists, is ideally suited to syrup making.

There’s the crazy weather, for one thing. Without the dramatic temperature swings New England experiences during the transition from winter to spring, there just wouldn’t be maple syrup. Temperatures must fluctuate between 28 degrees (or below) at night and 38 degrees (or above) during the day for sap to flow. And so, at the tail end of winter, when the rural farmhouses are still blanketed with snow but the dirt roads have turned from ice to mud, tappers start looking to collect maple sap. The sap season, usually about six weeks long, typically begins in mid-February and goes to the end of March.

Of course, among New Englanders, the time to tap is determined by more than weather. One arbitrary local tradition is to tap your trees on Town Meeting Day, the first Tuesday in March.

My favorite advice is this: Start when the melting snow streams across the road and stop when the peepers start their peeping. (For you city slickers, peepers are spring frogs.) Melting snow shows that it’s just warm enough to produce sap flow, but when the ice melts enough for frogs to emerge from their ponds, it’s warm enough for the leaf buds on the sugar maples to bloom. Once that happens, the sap loses its sweetness and becomes bitter.

In recent years, tradition has given way to some technological advances in syrup making. But for the most part, the industry hasn’t changed much since the 1800s.

American Indians collected sap by slashing tree trunks and letting the sap flow into a hollowed-out log or other container. Sizzling rocks heated in a fire were tossed into the sap causing slow evaporation. The sap would be reduced until it was very thick, then stirred until it crystallized. It was then poured into wooden molds and stored in block form for use during the rest of the year.

The colonists reduced the cooking time with the use of iron kettles placed over a fire, resulting in more efficient evaporation. In the late 1700s, slashing was replaced with a gentler technique--the insertion of a spile or hollowed-out stick into the tree--that resulted in healthier trees.

In the late 1800s, a Vermonter whose name is unknown invented the first evaporator. He made a large metal pan that was wide and flat, helping the sap to evaporate quickly. This was improved over time with the inclusion of channels that allow the cooking sap to flow through the evaporator.

Among the trees of Stan Holt, a retired minister and community organizer who loves the ritual of putting taps on trees after a long winter and listening for the plink-plink of the tree’s nectar hitting empty buckets, you could easily imagine that you’ve stepped back in time 100 years. Holt, who collects syrup lore as well as sap, doesn’t make syrup. His favorite part of the process is the tapping, not the cooking, which he leaves to someone else.

On this morning, we find several full buckets on his trees. He lifts the lid on one and I dip my finger into the icy liquid and put it into my mouth. It tastes like cold, slightly sweet water.

Holt explains that to tap a sugar maple, you must first be sure that it’s old enough. A tree must be at least 10 inches in diameter (about 30 years old) to withstand one tap. The larger and older the tree gets, the more taps you can install. A hole, about 1/2 inch in diameter and 1 1/2 to 2 inches deep, is drilled into the tree about three feet from the ground. A sap spout, or spile, is inserted and a 2 1/2-gallon bucket is then hung from the spile. A cover must be placed on top of the bucket to prevent dilution from rain and snow and to try to keep animals away.

Each tap should produce 10 to 12 gallons of sap per season. If you’ve got four buckets on a tree, you’ll get about 40 gallons of sap, which in turn will give you on average one gallon of syrup. That’s right. It takes 40 gallons of sap to make one gallon of syrup. This helps explain the high price tags for pure maple syrup.

Holt empties the buckets into a large barrel that sits atop a small trailer hitched to his car, then drives his liquid cargo over muddy roads to the sugarhouse of John Plummer, the man who will turn Holt’s sap into syrup.

As we pass scattered farm houses and a dilapidated sugar shack, the landscape shows subtle signs that we are firmly in the 20th century. A couple of miles down from a buffalo farm, for instance, we pass a llama ranch where the Andean animals are being raised as guard animals. It seems they’re powerful kickers.

Plummer’s sugarhouse is in Grafton, which is also known for its Vermont Cheddar cheese. Compared to many syrup makers, Plummer runs a huge operation--he makes about 1,000 gallons of syrup per season--and he uses methods that are about as high tech as sugaring can get.

He has about 3,300 taps on his property. And instead of the buckets that Holt prefers, plastic tubes are attached from tree to tree and connected to other main hoses that flow directly into a holding tank outside the sugarhouse.

From the holding tank, the sap goes through a reverse-osmosis machine where it passes through a membrane that keeps the sugars and eliminates about 75% of the water.

This allows Plummer to dramatically cut back the cooking time--and wood--needed to make the syrup. Concentrating the sap in the traditional way by boiling alone, he would need 70 or 80 cords of wood to make 1,000 gallons of syrup. Using the reverse-osmosis machine, he can make the same amount of syrup with just 12 cords.

Of course, Holt has some bragging rights of his own. He proudly insists that early in the season, when the sap is sweetest, his trees produce sap with a sugar content as high as 4%. (Three-and-a-half percent is considered excellent.)

At this remark, Holt and Plummer look each other in the eye and I sense that if it weren’t for a stranger’s presence, bets would have been laid on the table. Instead, they turn their attention to the stranger and explain that once maple syrup is finished cooking, the final step is to run it through a pressure filter. It is then ready to be packaged.

But there’s no cooking today at Plummer’s sugarhouse, so we head over to the farm of Phil Cutting, just outside Brattleboro.

Cutting uses the modern plastic tube method for collecting his sap, but he also taps some trees the old-fashioned way with buckets and uses a horse and trailer to collect the sap from those trees.

He has about 300 taps placed throughout his forest of sugar maples, called the sugarbush, and makes an average of 115 gallons of syrup each year.

The woodsy smell of a fire combined with the sweet aroma of steam rising from boiling syrup greets us as we walk in. In Cutter’s sugarhouse, there is no reverse-osmosis machine. But there is a small gathering of neighbors and family who have come by to help. Sandwiches and an opened bag of chips are set out on a table in the corner. Sugaring is not only a business operation, it’s a social event.

The evaporator, or cooker, is a shallow, flat basin divided in half, each half with labyrinth-like compartments that wind the sap around through varying stages of cooking. A wood-burning furnace is periodically refueled with logs during the process.

The rear half of the evaporator is filled with fresh sap that has been funneled from the holding tank on the outside wall of the sugarhouse. It is boiling away furiously, gradually creating a layer of bubbles about 8 inches high. When the bubbles begin to boil over, Cutting takes a mug with a small wooden stick in it and sprinkles a few drops of liquid onto the bubbles. Within seconds, the tower of bubbles completely disappears.

What’s the magic fluid? Milk. Cutting says that the fat in milk creates a chemical reaction that makes the bubbles instantaneously subside. Some people prefer to hang a piece of pork fat over the boiling sap and let the steam from the sap create an occasional drip of fat into the syrup. Other people buy special solutions made just for this purpose.

What’s clear is that this process requires the attention of the cook. Stories abound of cooks who left their evaporators with syrup bubbling only to return to a burnt mess.

By the time the sap moves to the other side of the cooker, it is darker with dense, deeply brown bubbles. The syrup gradually moves through the two halves of the boiler until it hits the final compartment, about three inches wide and five feet long. There’s a thermometer on the side of the cooker. Once the syrup hits 219 degrees, 7 degrees above the boiling point, it should be ready.

Cutting, however, can tell when the syrup is ready by looking at how it drips from his shovel. Humidity, altitude, barometric pressure and other factors can vary the temperature. The final test is a density check with a hydrometer, which looks like a candy thermometer, except that when it is placed into a viscous substance, you measure how high or low it floats in the liquid.

When the syrup is ready, Cutting drains it out of the cooker through a special spout on the side of the evaporator, pours it though special filters made of felt, and puts it in a barrel for future reheating and bottling.

Everyone who makes syrup in Vermont has a special grading kit from the state. It is a row of small bottles, each containing various shades of amber- to brown-colored water. Compare what you’ve made with the samples in the kit, and you’ve got your grade. Today’s batch gets a B, my favorite, though Cutting is a bit disappointed knowing that he won’t get a Grade A price for it.

Of course, as Cutting’s girlfriend, Sharon, says, “We do it just for fun.” They sell most of their syrup locally, have a small mail-order operation and keep some for themselves. Unless you’re a large producer, there’s not a lot of profit in sugaring. Even so, the Cuttings ended up with a total of 132 gallons of syrup in 1998, a great season for them. And it won’t be long before another season begins and the sugarhouse fires up again.

Maple Creme Brulee Pie With Caramelized Apples in a Walnut Crust

Active Work Time: 45 minutes * Total Preparation Time: 6 hours

CRUST

1/2 cup walnut pieces

1 cup flour

1/4 cup maple or granulated sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup (1 stick) cold butter, cut into 8 pieces

1 egg, lightly beaten

Nonstick cooking spray

* Pulse walnuts, flour, sugar and salt in food processor until walnuts are finely ground into flour and mixture resembles cornmeal.

* Add butter and pulse until mixture resembles coarse pebbles. Add egg and pulse just until barely incorporated.

* Press dough into 9-inch pie plate lightly coated with cooking spray. Occasionally pat fingers in small pile of flour to prevent them from sticking to dough. Chill at least 1 hour.

* Place parchment paper or foil over crust. Fill with dry beans, rice or pie weights and bake at 325 degrees 30 minutes. Remove parchment paper and weights and continue cooking until crust is lightly browned, 15 to 20 more minutes. Check crust frequently and pat down if it begins to puff up. Cool.

CARAMELIZED APPLES

2 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons sugar

2 firm apples, such as Pink Lady, Granny Smith or Fuji, peeled, cored and cut into 1/4-inch dice

* Heat medium skillet over high heat. Add butter and sugar and stir until melted.

* Add apples and cook over high heat, stirring frequently, until apples are mostly caramelized and nicely browned, 10 to 15 minutes. Cool.

CUSTARD FILLING

2 1/4 cups whipping cream

6 tablespoons grade B maple syrup

6 egg yolks, lightly beaten

* Bring cream and syrup to boil in small saucepan over medium heat. Remove from heat.

* Pour small amount of hot cream into yolks, stirring constantly, to temper yolks. Gradually add remaining cream, stirring until well mixed. Strain.

ASSEMBLY

Raw sugar, optional

* Layer Carmelized Apples evenly in bottom of precooked Crust. Pour Custard Filling over apples. Bake at 325 degrees until custard is set, about 30 minutes. Cool and chill about 4 hours.

* Cut into serving pieces. Sprinkle each piece with raw sugar if desired and melt with small torch, creating brulee effect.

6 to 8 servings. Each of 8 servings: 497 calories; 337 mg sodium; 314 mg cholesterol; 37 grams fat; 36 grams carbohydrates; 7 grams protein; 0.56 gram fiber.

Maple Shortbread

Active Work Time: 30 minutes * Total Preparation Time: 4 1/2 hours

1 cup (2 sticks), butter, softened

2/3 cup maple sugar

2 cups cake flour

Maple cream, optional

* Beat butter and sugar until light and creamy. Add flour and mix until fully incorporated. Chill about 4 hours.

* Roll out dough on lightly floured surface 1/4 inch thick. Cut into desired shapes, such as small maple leaves, and place on parchment paper-lined baking sheet.

* Bake at 375 degrees until edges are lightly browned, about 10 minutes. Cool. Top with dollop of maple cream if desired.

About 3 dozen (2-inch) cookies. Each cookie: 82 calories; 53 mg sodium; 14 mg cholesterol; 5 grams fat; 8 grams carbohydrates; 1 gram protein; 0.01 gram fiber.

Maple Banana Nut Muffins

Active Work Time: 25 minutes * Total Preparation Time: 45 minutes

These muffins also can be made using only maple products for sweetening. Brown or granulated sugar may be substituted for maple sugar.

STREUSEL TOPPING

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, melted

1 cup chopped walnuts

1/2 cup maple or brown sugar, packed

2 tablespoons flour

* Combine butter, walnuts, maple sugar and flour. Set aside.

MAPLE GLAZE

6 tablespoons powdered sugar, sifted

2 tablespoons grade B maple syrup

* Whisk sugar into syrup until smooth.

MUFFINS

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened

1/3 cup maple or brown sugar, packed

1 egg

1/3 cup grade B maple syrup

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 over-ripe banana, mashed

1/2 cup sour cream

* Beat butter and sugar until light and creamy. Mix in egg, then gradually add syrup.

* Sift together all-purpose flour, whole wheat flour, salt, baking soda and baking powder. Add to butter mixture, mixing just until incorporated. Combine banana and sour cream and fold into batter.

* Spoon into 12-cup muffin tin lined with paper liners. Sprinkle Streusel Topping evenly on top of each muffin. Bake at 375 degrees until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, 18 to 20 minutes. Cool slightly, then drizzle with Maple Glaze.

1 dozen muffins. Each muffin: 348 calories; 267 mg sodium; 53 mg cholesterol; 20 grams fat; 40 grams carbohydrates; 4 grams protein; 0.64 gram fiber.

Spicy Pork Tenderloin With Ginger Maple Sauce

Active Work Time: 30 minutes * Total Preparation Time: 1 hour

2 teaspoons chili powder

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 1/3 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon pepper

2 (3/4- to 1-pound) pork tenderloins

1 tablespoon butter

1/2 cup diced onion

1 tablespoon grated or minced ginger root

1/2 cup chicken stock

1/4 cup maple syrup

Nonstick cooking spray

* Combine chili powder, cinnamon, salt and pepper.

* Rinse tenderloins and pat dry with paper towels. Cut away any silver skin. Coat with spice mix. Let sit at room temperature 30 minutes.

* Heat skillet over medium heat. Add butter and melt. Saute onion until lightly caramelized, about 10 minutes. Add ginger and cook 5 more minutes. Add chicken stock and scrape bottom of pan with spoon or spatula to deglaze pan. Simmer 10 more minutes. Add maple syrup and simmer 5 minutes. Set aside.

* Heat large skillet over high heat, then lightly coat with cooking spray. Sear tenderloins on all sides until browned. Place in 13x9-inch baking dish.

* Bake at 375 degrees until meat thermometer reads 150 to 160 degrees for medium, 20 to 30 minutes. Let rest 10 minutes. Pour sauce into baking dish and return to oven for 5 minutes. Remove from oven and stir to deglaze dish. Slice meat on slight diagonal and spoon sauce over top.

6 to 8 servings. Each serving: 171 calories; 477 mg sodium; 25 mg cholesterol; 10 grams fat; 14 grams carbohydrates; 7 grams protein; 0.62 gram fiber.

Maple Roasted Winter Squash

Active Work Time: 10 minutes * Total Preparation Time: 1 hour 20 minutes

1 winter squash, such as kabocha or acorn

2 tablespoons butter

1/4 cup grade B maple syrup

Salt

* Quarter squash and scoop out seeds. Place in 13x9-inch baking dish. Put 1/2 tablespoon butter in each quarter and pour 1 tablespoon syrup over top of each piece of squash. Sprinkle with salt to taste.

* Bake at 400 degrees until tender, about 1 hour to 1 hour 15 minutes, depending on size and type of squash.

4 servings. Each serving: 142 calories; 139 mg sodium; 16 mg cholesterol; 6 grams fat; 23 grams carbohydrates; 2 grams protein; 1.59 grams fiber.

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Syrup Lore

Was it an Iroquois chief named Chief Woksis who discovered maple syrup? Legend has it that one early spring evening the chief threw his hatchet into a sugar maple and discovered the sweet water dripping out of the gash the next morning.

Another legend, which doesn’t necessarily cancel out the first, gives credit to an unnamed woman cook. The cook, perhaps making a weeknight supper for the tribe, decided to use some of the already discovered “sweet water” or sap to cook the evening’s meat. Cooking, of course, turned the clear sap into caramelized syrup--and produced a wonderfully fragrant stew. A new culinary tradition was born.

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Making the Grade

What kind of syrup earns an A on its label? It all has to do with when the sap was tapped from the tree. Early in the season, the sap is sweetest, with sugar levels as high as 3 1/2%. It normally takes only 20 to 25 gallons of early season sap to make a gallon of syrup. This syrup gets labeled Fancy in Vermont, Grade A Light Amber in the rest of the U.S. and No. 1 Extra Light in Canada. It is the lightest and usually most expensive maple syrup you can buy.

Vermont, which was the first state to establish a rating system for maple syrup, maintains its own rating system; thus the Vermont Fancy rating instead of just Grade A Light Amber. Vermonters, of course, believe that their syrup is the best.

Toward the end of the season, when the sugar content is closer to 1 1/2%, it can take up to 70 gallons of sap to produce a gallon of syrup. This syrup is labeled Grade B or C, and is sweeter, thicker, darker and stronger in flavor.

In between are Grade A Medium Amber and Grade B Dark Amber (No. 1 LightGrade A and No. 1 MediumGrade A in Canada). Grade A Medium Amber has a pronounced maple bouquet and Grade A Dark Amber has a more robust maple bouquet; both are popular for all-around use.

But is Vermont Fancy, the Grade A Light Amber, the best-tasting maple syrup? Connoisseurs say yes. But some people prefer the stronger flavor and richer texture of Grade B syrup. Grade B is maple syrup that assertively tastes like maple syrup.

Still, if you want to use maple syrup simply as a sweetener, stick to Grade A. There will be maple flavor overtones, but they will be subtle. If you’re going for a noticeable maple flavor, especially when baking, use grade B.