Maple Sugaring

In anticipation of Spring, while the country side is still covered with snow, we tap our 50 acres of sugar maple trees.

This is done by drilling 5/16 inch diameter holes into the trees and inserting spouts into the holes.

Trees must be a minimum of 10 inches in diameter to have one taphole and it takes a tree nearly 40 years to grow to this size.

"Maple Sugaring” begins in the early Spring when we have crisp nights with the temperature falling below freezing, and warm sunny days above freezing. It is at this time that the sap in the sugar maple trees begins to flow.

The sap from our 3,500 taps flows through more than 20 mile long pipeline system directly into storage tanks near our sugarhouse.

Once at the sugarhouse, the process of “boiling” begins, yielding clouds of sweet maple steam as the water is evaporated from the sap.

Thirty-five to forty gallons of sap must be boiled down to make one gallon of syrup.

In a good year one taphole will yield one quart of maple syrup.

When the sap has been concentrated to the proper density, the resulting syrup is filtered, graded and packaged under strict Vermont standards.

Vermont requires its syrup to have a higher density than any other state or country.

Maple syrup can be made into other maple products including maple candy, maple cream and granulated maple sugar.

Checking color and specific gravity.

Grading the syrup.