Early Maple Syrup season here in Maine

[maureenb]

Someone gave me a bottle of Grade A maple syrup (Canadian) recently, and it's nice. But my jaded taste buds (and pocketbook) are partial to Grade B. I buy it from bulk at a local co-op. Not sure which state or country it's from; it tastes excellent, and it's priced reasonably.

Buying very local maple syrup seems like buying any other locally grown/ produced food product - it's costly. But I doubt that the producer is pricing it too far beyond what it costs him/ her to make & bottle it.

Spoiler

Kinda like that $24, 5# locally raised roaster (chicken) I see still sitting in the freezer at the co-op each time I'm there...

[Northern Maine Land Man]

I don't care what fuel the producer uses for "sugarin' off". It is much more expensive than it was last year. That is true even if he burns his own wood. Putting up your own wood is more expensive unless you use a buck saw and haul it on a sled as our grandfathers did.

[elston]

I have seen sap buckets around my neighborhood since last week end. Pussywillows are out too, in my back dooryard. Spring is here?

I have the following song in an old song book of Vermont Songs.....I first heard it sung by Dudley Laufman....from Canterbury NH but well known around Maine too.

Maple Sweet by P.B. Fisk

Chorus

Oh, bubble, bubble, bubble goes the syrup in the pan.
Making sweeter music try to top it if you can.
See the golden billows; watch their ebb and flow.
Sweetest joys indeed we sugar makers know.

When you see the vapor pillar lick the forest and the sky,
You may know the days of sugar making then are drawing nigh.
Frosty nights and sunny days make the maple pulses play,
Till congested with their sweetness they delight to bleed away.

Chorus

When you see the farmer trudging with the dripping buckets home,
You may know the days of sugar making then have fully come.
As the fragrant odors pour through the open door,
How the eager children rally, ever loudly crying, "More!"

Chorus

If for love or for sickness or for any sort of thing,
Take in allopathic doses and repeat it every spring.
If at home or on the street, anyone you meet,
Will be half a mind to bite you, 'cause you look so very sweet.

Chorus

[Newdaawn]

I'm wondering if Maine Maple Sunday will be moved up because of the early sugaring off. You will get the best price if you buy it from the producer - skip L L Bean. Their prices are WAY out of line.

Maine Maple Sunday is when many if not most of the sugar houses are open to the public for most of the day to see how the process works. Most of them also sell the product and give samples as well.

[mainegrl2011]

Originally Posted by Newdaawn

I'm wondering if Maine Maple Sunday will be moved up because of the early sugaring off. You will get the best price if you buy it from the producer - skip L L Bean. Their prices are WAY out of line.

Maine Maple Sunday is when many if not most of the sugar houses are open to the public for most of the day to see how the process works. Most of them also sell the product and give samples as well.

Sap, syrup already flowing at Maine maple sugarhouses — Business — Bangor Daily News — BDN Maine

The above news story posted about two hours ago says that tapping has started way earlier than usual and that the Maine Maple Sunday Event will most likely still take place on March 25 although by then it may not be possible to show syrup production to visitors. This looks like a great place to keep a check on a potential date change.

Maine Maple Producers Association and the map
MMPA - Maine Maple Sunday Map

[maureenb]

here's an article in Village Soup on some folks down this way who boil sap:

Sap runs early in Midcoast towns - Shlomit Auciello - Rockland - Camden - Knox - VillageSoup Gazette

Wow - it says that these guys have to load the wood stove every twenty to twenty five minutes - that's dedication!