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Beyond Maple Syrup

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By Bonnie Hudspeth, Winter 2008
Portions of this text were originally published in Local Banquet Magazine

Vermont entrepreneurs are using maple sap in new ways – and waiting to see how the climate changes.

Although Vermont led all states in maple syrup production in 2006 with 460,000 gallons-more than 32 percent of the maple syrup produced in the United States-the threat of a Vermont without maple syrup is real. Tim Perkins at the University of Vermont’s Proctor Maple Research Station in Underhill has found that the sugaring season-formerly 30 days in length-has been shifting earlier in the spring by a week (on average) over the past 40 years, thereby reducing the standard season by 6 to 10%. And many sugar producers have already experienced the impact of changing weather on sap production.

But the threat to maples hasn’t stopped Vermont entrepreneurs from using maple sap in innovative ways. Here are three local businesses that have taken the maple syrup once reserved for Sunday morning pancakes and used it in variations never before imagined:  http://www.localbanquet.com/issues/years/2008/winter08/beyondmaple_w08.html.

Apple Pancakes

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By Katrina Hall at http://shesinthekitchen.blogspot.com

Ingredients:
Serves about four.
About 3 apples, peeled and diced small
1 egg
1 cup milk or soymilk ( I used Silk Plain)
3 T. unsalted butter, melted in skillet ( or vegetable oil or butter substitute)
1 1/2 cups King Arthur flour
2 t. baking powder
1/4 t. cinnamon
1/8 t. nutmeg
2 T. sugar

How to Prepare:
Beat the egg, butter or oil, and milk or soymilk together in a bowl. Add the diced apples. Add the flour, sugar, spices, and baking powder and stir well.

In skillet or griddle set on medium low, add a teaspoon of butter or oil to pan. Let pan heat evenly, then scoop out batter with a ladle – mine holds about 3/4 cup of batter – and make two medium pancakes. Allow pancakes to cook for about 4 minutes, or until you see little bubbles on the sides and top of the pancakes, then flip and let cook another 4 minutes. Because of the apple, they need to cook at a lower temperature than regular pancakes. Check to make sure they’re not charring. Remove pancakes to a platter, then add a little more butter or oil, then more batter – and so on.

Serve with warm maple syrup.
http://shesinthekitchen.blogspot.com/search/label/apple%20pancakes

Featured Local Product: Butterworks Farm Organic Maple Yogurt

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From Butterworks Farm‘s website: We’ve been farming organically for twenty-five years and are always willing to share our knowledge and experience. We are totally self-sufficient. We grow all the food our cows eat, including corn, oats, barley, soybeans, and alfalfa. All of our cows were born here on the farm. We have a closed herd- which means we don’t buy cows from other farms.

Since 1975, during our first days as homesteaders with just a family cow, we have made our yogurt right here on the farm. We use only our own milk to produce this delicious yogurt. Our soils are sweet and mineralized. The extra special “nutty” flavor of our whole yogurt begins with the land we farm.


Butterworks Farm Yogurt is now available at the
Hannah Grimes Marketplace.

Farm of the Month: The Maple Guys

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By Jan Sevene, Monadnock Localvore Project

The Maple Guys
146 Schoolhouse Rd
Lyndeborough, NH 03082
603-487-3292
Toll-Free: 1-888-627-5349
themapleguys@yahoo.com
http://www.mapleguys.com

It is a story of sweet success, because their quality products speak for themselves. What began as a backyard hobby, boiling sap in a “homemade rig,” steadily evolved into a thriving maple sugaring business-twice awarded the Carlisle Trophy for the best maple syrup in New Hampshire. Maple Guys owner Chris Pfeil, assisted by his wife Kim, and with support from part-owner Chris Schoen, continually expands product lines to better serve customers.

Along with tempting traditional maple syrup products, The Maple Guys offers customers numerous items. Informative books teach maple sugaring and candy making. Custom gift baskets are available for personal and business gift giving, and wedding guests or party goers can take home a sweet remembrance of New England in the form of a Maple Guys unique and stylish maple syrup wedding or party favor.

The Maple Guys offers maple sugaring equipment, and accessories and supplies, ranging from buckets and spouts to sugarhouses and evaporators. The Pfeils firmly believe in the need for the sugaring industry to rely more on a local, sustainable fuel source. When searching for a clean, energy efficient wood-fired evaporator to replace their aging unit, they found one that exceeded their expectations. Recently installed, it will be in production this sugaring season. This fulfills their objective to have the first clean wood-burning gasification evaporator in New Hampshire.

Give them a call, or better yet pay a visit to The Maple Guys Open House during New Hampshire Maple Weekend, March 27 & 28, 2010.  Visit their website for details, and while there, view their many products. Support a local sugarer!

Other maple sugar producers:

Boutwell’s Sugar House
Lee and Judy Sawyer
192 Main Street
Jaffrey, NH 03452
603-532-7621

My Old Farm Pure Maple Syrup
Harold Bigelow Jr.
70 South Scofield Mountain Road
Winchester, NH 03470
(603)239-6751.

Stonewall Farm
Glenn Yardley
Chesterfield Rd.
Keene, NH 03431
603-352-0457

Stuart & John’s Sugar House
Eleanor Adams
Jct. Rtes. 12 & 63
Westmoreland, NH 03467
603-399-4486

Webbers Sugar House
Bernard Webber
450 Dublin Road
Marlborough, NH 03455
603-876-4554