New Hampshire is all about the fresh maple syrup and maple season is in full swing. Starting late February you will find New Hampshirites out feverishly tapping their maple trees, some tapping into the hundreds. Sap from maples can only be collected late winter through early spring for approximately 4-6 weeks making tapping of the trees a pressing time.
Most healthy maple trees will produce 10-20 gallons of sap per tap every season. While this is more than you would bat an eye at, it isn’t enough to smother pancakes for long. It takes 40 gallons of maple sap to make 1 gallon of maple syrup. Over 160,000 gallons of maple syrup are produced by over 525 sugar makers in New Hampshire alone.
If you smell closely in the month of March you will smell the sweet scent of maple syrup drifting out of the sugar shacks all over New Hampshire. Once collected the maple sap is boiled down for hours. When the water is evaporated, and the sap becomes extremely concentrated, a chemical reaction occurs creating what we all know and love – maple syrup.
Depending on when the sap is collected, how fresh it is when boiled, and for how long, all affect the outcome of the maple syrup that is produced. The maple syrup scale breaks it down into 4 categories to help you find the perfect syrup for your own personal wants and needs.
Here at Calef’s Country Store you will find Grade A – Golden color and delicate taste, Grade A – Amber Color and Rich Flavor, Grade A – Dark color and Robust Flavor, and lastly, Grade A – Very Dark and Strong Flavor. Calef’s maple syrup is collected and cooked in a sugar shack in the Littleton, NH area. Stop by today to pick up your fresh local syrup. Can’t decide, try a variety pack that showcases the different types of maple syrup you will love.
