sugarin'

whew, jam-packed filled day. it's official maple weekend in NH and VT. unfortunately, the weather hasn't really been cooperating with the producers, but we did manage to check out a couple places in NH and VT (felt like a whole state tour!)

we happened across Wells Maple Syrup (Toby & Zack Wells 603-209-2717) in Dublin, NH on our way to finding another sugarhouse. this is a new operation by Toby and Zack. they have a pretty small operation going on right now but they were really nice and showed us all their gadgets and gizmos and explained a lot about sugaring. they do use reverse osmosis (RO) to condense the sap down to about 5-6% sugar so the boiling time is reduced. lots of stuff i learned from Kati from Woodards Sugarhouse but some stuff i didn't know. the temperature to know the sap has become syrup is right around 218 for instance, and it tastes delicious right out of the machine. where you see all the steam is final evaporating/boiling part of it and where the thermometer keeps track of the sap.

this was our original destination- Morning Star Maple. located just feet from Wells along rt 101 east, this is a much larger production (going on almost 27 years). they had free pancakes with their syrup and samples of maple popcorn to try.

this is the same machine on a larger scale. on full power they can produce 20-30 gallons of syrup (it takes 40 gallons of sap to make a gallon, so that's a ton of sap moving through). they have a vacuum that draws sap from their lines and that tube feeds into their RO system and then that condensed syrup is fed into the evaporator. the sap is boiled and their system automatically releases the syrup once it reaches 218 (67% sugar). once the maple syrup is released into the barrel they roll the barrel over to their filtering system which removes any particles and then the syrup is boiled to 180 and bottled (that machine is not pictured). the smell of boiling sap is so yummy! they also have a good selection of maple products in their gift shop and postcards and other new england goodies.
since one pancake and no coffee (it had been a late night at scores) wasn't enough we were off to the vt country store to be touristy. we passed audrey's cafe, which i had wondered about, so we decided to stop there for food and coffee.

the coffee wasn't all that great, but the breakfast food we all decided was the best we've found in NH (although lindy's has some good stuff, and the stage is good but a bit pricey). i was very happy their biscuits were good, soft and flakey. yum. my eggs weren't greasy and my home fries had seasoning and were on that nice verge of crispy. we were probably the youngest people there by about 30-40 years which was kind of hilarious but even though the outside of the building makes you think it looks a bit like a rundown diner the inside is actually really bright and homey. from dublin we made our way up 12 north out of NH into VT to go to the vt country store in rockingham. i can never get tired of that store. even though it's a bit pricey (even their sale section) samples are always fun and there's always so much to look at. 

there was some sort of accident on 12 coming back into keene, but luckily i knew my way back down through vt on rt 5 which kind of worked out b/c we stopped by harlowe's maple store in putney (much cheaper than vt country store) and we got to see their equipment and smell yummy maple syrup. then it was onto basketville in putney and then we finally made it back home! now i feel like a maple syrup expert!