Hi everyone. Tuesday has arrived and it is time to share your drink related post over at Bleubeard and Elizabeth's blog for T Day.
My post today is all about Maple Weekend, which was a New Hampshire statewide event held last weekend to celebrate maple syrup. At this time of year sugar maple trees are being tapped for their sap, which then gets turned into maple syrup.
It's an historic tradition in this part of the world, and on Maple Weekend sugar shacks open their doors to the public. You can learn about the maple sugaring process and also buy some maple sugar products right from the producers.
(I will mention that many maple sugar shacks are open for business all season, but this weekend is one especially dedicated to education and promoting the maple sugar industry.)
Some of you may remember me showing you a photo or 2 of this sugar shack down the road from my house. It's an old building from the 1940's that was built and used as to make maple syrup for many years, and then it sat empty. The 2 guys who use it now have brought the old place back to life which is good.
This is a cool vintage stove that runs on wood. The wood heats up the sap (which is in the metal pan on the top of it) and evaporates the water out of the saap into the air, as you can see from the all steam in this next photo.
Once the water evaporates they drain the syrup into the silver jug on the left hand side.
And this is the tank where all the sap from the sugar maples is collected.
The blue hose is what drains the sap into the sugar shack. The liquid in the tank is their latest sap collection.
They had a table set up where you could buy their products.
And I thought I took a photo of the little cups of maple syrup so you could drink and taste their syrup. This is why I included this for T Day because I tasted a cup. It was sweet but actually not as sweet as some syrups. They also had hot cocoa and also coffee sweetened with maple syrup, which I didn't try, but I did try some maple sweetened whipped cream which was delicious.
And since I didn't take a photo of any of that, you will have to take my word for it.
Sorry about that. I guess I was on such a sugar high that I wasn't thinking clearly. (Hee-hee)
But hopefully you enjoyed the syrup making process.
And hopefully you also had a happy T day too. Thanks for visiting.
18 comments:
I really enjoyed this post allot, I love stories like this and loved that he kept it wood fired.
one of the guys that visited us last year at deer camp makes his own maple syrup. He lives up by Green Bay Wisconsin.
that would be fun to taste the samples.
thanks for posting all the photos
Happy T Day
So fun! Thank you for showing us the process. I love pure maple syrup. It is good on anything. Someday it would be fun to tap a maple tree or better yet,own a maple tree.
Happy Tea Day,
Kate
Fantastic post, so interesting to see how the syrup is produced, I would love to see this in real life, but your post is a great substitute. Happy T Day. hugs, Valerie
that is the beauty of blog land as you learn so much about the world..how fascinating about the maple syrup..never knew that and I love that sign too..think I have got some syrup in the cupboard so appreciate its origins more
This is a really interesting post Erika. It was good to see the photos of how the sap is collected and good for those guys who have opened an old place to produce the syrup.
I've always found the ones for sake here to be very sweet, so it was good to read that you can find ones like you tasted.
Happy T day wishes. Erika,
Yvonne xx
I loved visiting the maple sugar shack with you today and the maple sweetened whipped cream sounds delicious - yum! Maybe with some pancakes and on top of a mug of cocoa please ...lol 😉. I seem to think that the Maple Weekend signifies the start of spring and there is so much snow in your photos - brrrr! Stay warm and wishing you a very Happy T Day! J 😊 x
very interesting to see the old process of getting and making the syrup from the sap. I was gifted with one of those glass leaf shaped bottles of syrup from NH and kept the pretty bottle once it was empty. Happy T day!
So cool to see the process. Bet it smelled good in the shack, too. :-D Sugar high! You'll have to go back to get a picture of the little cup. :-D
I love maple syrup and once went to a sugar shack to learn how it was made. It's so good -- puts all that so-called maple syrup stuff in the stores to shame! This is such a fun post!
You know Erika .. i grew up in the NorthEast PA/NJ but i don't remember seeing anyone make maple syrup or tap their trees.. so funny .. maybe i wasn't far enough North?... or maybe i just never noticed as a kid.. So fun to see all this.. thankyou!! Happy T day! Hugs! deb
I've never heard of coffee sweetened with maple syrup, but I have a cup of coffee in my hand and some maple syrup in the fridge.... ;) Happy T Tuesday
I am really sorry I am late visiting. I fell asleep and when I woke, I realized I still had things to do before my friend arrives today from TN to spend time with me.
I always love when you take us to the maple sugar shack. I think I mentioned last year that Sally brought me one of those maple leaf bottles of genuine maple syrup last year.
I will take your word that you enjoyed your drink there, but I see liquid coming out of the syrup vat, so you already have a drink, my dear. Thanks for sharing this experience again this year with us for T.
I think this process is so fascinating...love your photos! I am a fan of maple syrup and maple candy, but must only taste sparingly! I think with the crazy weather this year, it should be a good year for maple syrup. thanks for sharing! happy T day!
It's great that this old building from the 1940's has been brought back to life! What an interesting process! We opened a bottle of Organic Maple Syrup from Canada today - That was for a very good price at Lidl recently and I told my daughter that in your region it is also produced and as we learnt that we have nearly the same climatic conditions here as you, we asked ourselves why this is not produced here.
After we joked a bit I suggested she should bring this business to our region ...
we never had Whisky destilleries here and one clever businessman brought it to our region some years ago ... so why not ??? My daughter isn't interested - but maybe I should plant maple trees for my great-grandchildren to start this business...lol!
Happy T-Day dear Erika!
Still cold - just a few degrees above zero during day and freezing cold nights...
but it smells a bit like spring...we will see!
Oh no, I wrote a very long comment and now I am not sure - I think I just sent it to nirvana. Great that the old building from the 1940's has been brought to life again! Such an interesting process!
I just decided to plant maple trees if I find enough money - so that my great-grandchildren can start the Maple syrup business here --- we have the same climatic conditions like you - so this would maybe be a good idea.
We hadn't any Whisky destilleries here and a few years ago a clever man started her and it is a big success!
We opended a bottle of organic maple syrup from Canada ( purchased at Lidl )today so your post is very actual!
Hope you had a good work day and nice weather-
here it is still very cold - at least it smells like spring...
but it is predicted to stay cold the whole week...
sigh.
Happy T-Day!
oxo Susi
Our Costco only carries pure maple syrup from Canada, Erika. I suspect that New Hampshire's is better (grin). I remember learning about the sap making process in grade school back in WI. I use pure maple syrup a lot in baking and in pumpkin soup. Hubby won't have any other syrup on his pancakes.
Yum, thanks for the taste. I was right. New Hampshire's maple syrup is better. But, oh no, then you pulled out the sugar-high defense! Delightfully sweet post.
I was VERY late to T this week and am glad to see you're still at the party - lol.
Happy T-day! Hugs, Eileen
Oh I do love real maple syrup and it is great in coffee. You should try it sometime. I remember going on a field trip in grade school to a maple syrup farm. They had rows and rows of the stoves cooking down the syrup and it smelled so good. One of my favorite school memories.
Thanks for stopping by my blog and yes I am starting to feel better. It has been a bad winter for me for sure. I'm thinking it's time to visit a specialist to see if they can get to root of the problem here.
Happy Late T Day!
Carol
Woo! I bet you were on a sugar high!Great to see the process though! Belated Happy T day Chrisx
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