Vermont Maple Sugar Makers Association

“ With the increased supply of cane sugar there is little doubt that maple sugar would have almost ceased to be a commodity on the market but for its peculiar flavor, which, while objectionable for general purposes, created a special demand. Thus, while the cheaper and unflavored cane product has almost displaced maple sugar as an article of food, the demand for maple syrup and sugar as luxuries and flavoring materials not only keeps the industry alive, but calls for a continually increasing supply. ”

“ Some live coals were raked from the big fire and the little kettle with its precious sweet was placed thereon, and carefully watched until the sugar would blow through a twig loop or lay on snow. The sugar was very dark and often contained bits of charcoal that had fallen into the big kettles in boiling, but that did not matter; it was sweet and the feast always a delightful one. The other occasion was, in a measure, a sort of state performance and generally occurred at the close of a good run of sap, with fifteen or twenty buckets of syrup on hand. ”

“ Along with the maize and tobacco, maple sugar had its origin among the Indians. For time unknown before the white man came to this continent the aborigines drew the sap of the maple tree and distilled therefrom a sweet syrup. The various tribes of Canada, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Michigan all knew of this art. Where ever the white people came in contact with the Indians in a region where the maple tree grew they found them making this delicious sweet, and it was from them the white man learned the process. ”

“ With a steadily growing demand for maple syrup, which today is almost entirely supplied by the mixer, the producers of pure syrup can hope to control the trade only through organization. The difference between the pure and the adulterated product is so marked that there would be little question as to choice, with the genuine sugar known to the popular trade. A large number of the consumers hardly know pure maple syrup when they taste it, and as so great a part of that on the market is spurious, they have little chance to learn. ”

“ Therefore instead of the dark colored article containing numerous flavors, the present product with the modern methods is light in color, flavored only with the aroma of the maple, and the fine qualities possessed by this article has already won for itself a reputation far beyond the limits of our state. It has already passed the point of being considered a necessity and its use is now limited to those who can afford it as a luxury; even the poorest quality the price per pound will purchase several pounds of cane sugar for home use. Thus the poor farmer cannot use it except as a delicacy. ”

“ We do not believe it is right that a syrup composed of maple syrup made from either the sap of the maple tree or from maple sugar and mixed with glucose should be sold as a maple syrup; but we do believe that a maple syrup made from syrup of the maple sugar and mixed with cane-sugar syrup or refined-sugar syrup, I will say—because beet and cane sugar are the same after they have been through boneblack—we do believe that should be sold for maple syrup, and I will tell you why. ”

“ While it is the first object of the association to improve the quality of maple products, and increase the quantity now produced, which can easily be doubled, it recognizes as of the utmost importance that it should place before the consumers the knowledge which shall enable them to secure pure goods instead of an imitation product. ”

“ Along in March of each year, the farmer begins to watch the weather for signs of spring and conditions favorable to a flow of sap. It can only be obtained for a period of a few weeks in the spring, and on certain days when the weather conditions are favorable. Snow usually lays on the ground when the sugarmaker begins his operations in the sugar camp. The first step is to break roads in the soft and thawing snow, so that the teams can get about and gather the sap. This breaking roads is often no light task as the snow oftentimes has icy crusts beneath the surface. ”

“ But there has always been a certain amount of trade in pure maple sugar and syrup. A part of the city and town population comes from the country, where they have known the genuine article, and they have generally been able to supply their wants by dealing directly with the producers. The progressive and well-to-do sugar maker has also worked in this field. Of course there are farmers and others who, having pride and capacity, do their utmost to produce the best goods and market them in the most advantageous manner. ”

“ The total product of maple sugar in the United States as stated in our census is about 50,000,000 pounds. Of this Vermont is credited with about one-fourth of the entire output. We do not wish to be misunderstood; all the pure maple sugar is not of this fine quality; only the best grade which is a small percent of the amount manufactured is entitled to the high prices received. The small quantity of the so-called first class goods have led the producers to grade their product, so that we have the first, second and third grades with prices to compare with the quality ”

“ Then comes the busy time in the camp; the men and boys gather the sap with oxen and horses. This is usually done with a tank holding from 20 to 40 pails on a sled and drawn to the sugar house and stored in tanks from which in turn it flows to the boiling pan or evaporator; the flow from the storage tank being regulated by feeders which keeps the boiling sap in the evaporator constantly at the same level. The sap as it boils passes from one compartment to another becoming more dense and sweeter until it reaches the syruping off pan, where it is drawn off in the form of syrup. ”

“ The sugar season may commence early in March or it may be delayed until April, all again “depends on the weather.” The old time saying “When ye ancient moon of April shall glow so shall ye maple sap in abundance flow,” often holds good, but when it sometimes happens there are two last quarters of a moon in April the sugar maker can take his choice as to which he will close the harvest. ”

“ The bit of small size has taken the place of the axe, tapping iron and large auger. The tin bucket with covers have placed in the background the old troughs and wooden buckets. The team and lines of piping have lightened the burden of the man with a sap yoke and snow shoes, and instead of boiling out of doors or in the old shed a comfortable, convenient plank floor sugar house is now used. Thus [Pg 10] we see the change which has taken place along the different lines of the industry. It has worked itself into a trade or science and men make a study of it. ”

“ The producer must first have a grove of maple trees of the sugar maple variety. These groves Vermont has in abundance. They are on the hillside and in the valley; yet a grove of sugar maples that can be utilized for sugar making cannot be produced in a few years, as the tree is comparatively of slow growth and lives to a good old age. Not many trees are used for sugar making until they are 40 years old, and have a diameter of a foot or more. ”

“ After the oxen or horses have been over the road several times and they have become somewhat passable, the buckets are distributed one or two to a tree and the sugar maker goes about his grove tapping them by boring a hole with a bit three-eighths to one-half inch in diameter and two or three feet from the ground as the snow will permit; in this hole he drives a spout that conveys the sap to the bucket, and on which the bucket usually hangs.
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TAPPING THE GROVE.
When the sugar maker has finished tapping his trees he is ready for a flow of sap. ”

“ The fire under the boiling sap should be quick and hot, as the sooner it is reduced to syrup after it runs from the tree the better the product. As the sap begins to boil a scum of bubbles rises to the top, which must be constantly removed with a skimmer, and the man who tends the fires, skims the sap and draws off the syrup has a busy job. ”

“ MAXIMS FOR MAPLE SUGAR MAKERS.
Be in readiness to get the first run.
Have all utensils thoroughly cleansed and scalded.
Employ none but competent and experienced men to tap your trees.
Cut away the rough bark, only, before tapping, leaving bark sufficiently thick to hold the spout firmly to prevent leaking.
The finest flavor and lightest color will be obtained by shallow tapping.
Gather often, boil at once. Every delay in the process of evaporating sap will injure more or less the quality of the sugar.
Always strain your sap. Use felt strainers for syrup. Boil down to 11 pounds per gallon ”

“ It is then the sugar maker begins to think of his annual effort.
All up-to-date plants have substantial buildings, running water and heaters for washing; use galvanized iron tanks for gathering and storage; galvanized iron or tin buckets and sap spouts and also one of the more modern evaporators. This often represents a cash outlay quite sufficient to handle some business in town and is in use only two or three weeks in the year, the rest of the time being idle unless the owner includes the making of cider apple jellies in the fall and provides himself with a copper evaporator for the purpose. ”

“ The Grimm Evaporator and Grimm Sap Spout is more extensively used by up-to-date Sugar Makers than any other make. More Grimm Evaporators are annually sold than the combined output of all competitors. I will forfeit $500.00 if this statement is not absolutely true. Competitors are invited to investigate, order books are at their disposal. The Grimm Spout has benefited the Sugar Maker and the Maple tree, more than any other article in the Sugar Bush. If you desire first quality, the Grimm Evaporator is in a class by itself. ”

“ The association owns and issues a protected label to its members upon their agreement, filed with the secretary, that they will only use it upon packages containing pure maple sugar or syrup, of standard quality, of their own manufacture, a copy of which label will be found in this work, and a purchaser of a package covered by this label may be assured of its purity. The improper or unauthorized use of this label or any adulteration of the products covered by the same will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law by the association. ”

“ It is also true that while the trade in maple sugar has been steadily growing, the production from the trees has remained stationary. The mixer controls the situation, with the effect of lowering the profits of the farmer, preventing a compensatory increase in price when the crop is short, and retarding progress in the industry by the demand for a low-grade tub sugar. ”

“ In the case of maple sugar producers the first necessity is a market for high grade, unadulterated sugar and syrup. This they should be able to secure without much difficulty through responsible association, which can guarantee the quality of all the product bearing its name or stamp. ”

“ The men who tap the trees with the wide swing bit stock and 7-16 bit, but have the experience and adeptness to quickly select new growth timber in the old tapped tree and also to secure an upright resting place for the bucket. The spout men must never chaffer the tree into the inner bark and must not injure the spout when driving it securely in. The bucket should be properly placed and kept so at all future gatherings of sap. ”

“ Roll thin and bake quick.
2. One cup maple molasses, 1 teaspoonful each of soda and ginger, 2⁄3 cup butter, mix hard and roll thin.
Maple Sugar Cookies.
Two cups of maple syrup, 1 cup of sweet milk, flour enough to roll—about 5 cups, 1 cup of butter, 2 teaspoonfuls of baking powder. 4 eggs.
Beat the sugar and butter to a cream, add the eggs well beaten, add the milk, next the flour in which the baking powder has been well mixed. Roll and cut in any form to suit the taste. Bake in a moderate oven. ”

“ The summer’s heat is quite as essential as the winter cold, for the former makes the starchy growth to the tree that the latter converts into sugar, and while the sugar maker is blistering in his hay field in mid-summer or putting up the fires to keep out 30° below zero temperature when winter shuts him in, he knows the right forces are at work in nature’s laboratory to produce his sugar crop, and is so patient in his discontent. ”