5 famoose maple sugar adventures
One of the joys of New Hampshire in spring is maple sugar. Just as the ski season is ending, sugaring off begins with people collecting sap from sugar maples and boiling it down into rich maple syrup. This weekend is officially New Hampshire Maple Weekend and local sugar houses celebrate the season with open houses, demonstrations, pancake breakfasts and sugar on snow. Maine holds its celebration, Maine Maple Sunday, next weekend, March 23 and 24. Here are five facts about maple syrup and five famoose places for you to check out.
Fun facts:
1. March is maple sugaring season because for the sap to run to make maple syrup, you need cold nights and warm days. The best temperature ranges are 20s overnight and 40s during the day.
2. European settlers learned how to make maple syrup from Native Americans who had been boiling maple water into syrup since time immemorial.
3. It takes 40 gallons of sap to make one gallon of maple sugar. Maple sap tapped directly from trees is about 3 percent sugar to start.
4. New Hampshire produces about 125,000 to 150,000 gallons of maple syrup a year (167,000 gallons in 2022); Maine produces about four times as much as New Hampshire.
5. Maple syrup is good on just about everything. Well, we think that's a fact. You be the judge.
100-acre wood sugar shack
While most local sugar houses are family-owned, the 100-Acre Wood in Intervale is part of Believe in Books, a local non-profit dedicated to promoting literacy. In addition to the sugar shack, which is open Fridays through Sundays, 11 a.m.-4 p.m. for tours and sampling, the 100-Acre Wood offers wagon tours of their sugaring operations where you can see how trees are tapped and the sap, or maple water as it is sometimes called, is collected, and learn more about the history of maple sugaring.
The 100-Acre Wood Sugar Shack, 41 Observatory Way, Intervale.
(603) 356-9980
Photo courtesy of The 100-Acre Wood Facebook page
brooks family sugar house
Brooks Family Sugar House has been making maple syrup in Freedom since 1978. At their sugar house, you can watch maple syrup being made and tour the facilities. This weekend, the sugar house is open from 10 a.m.-3 p.m. and there will be pancakes, maple ice cream and maple frappes made with Freedom's own Bobby Sue's ice cream. March 23-24, the sugar house will be open 10 a.m.-1 p.m. The sap house store is also open by appointment.
Brooks Family Sugar House, 427 Eaton Road, Freedom
(603) 539-2153
Photo courtesy of The New Hampshire Maple Producers Association
mac hill maple
Mac Hill Maple in Tamworth has been producing maple syrup and maple products at its sugar house since 2020. This small family business began as a fun family activity for Will Streeter and his family and now with more than 450 taps, it is still growing.
The sugar house is open March 16-17, 10 a.m.-3 p.m. The Streeter family welcomes visitors to learn more about sugaring and sample their products, which include maple cotton candy, maple ice cream and maple granola. The sap started running at the end of February so there should be plenty to sample.
You can also find Mac Hill Maple products in season at the Tamworth Farmers Market in Tamworth Village on Saturdays from 10 a.m. to noon, as well as at Veno's Specialty Foods & Meats market in Conway.
Mac Hill Maple, 370 Gardner Hill Road, Tamworth
(603) 323-6091
Photo courtesy of The New Hampshire Maple Producers Association
weston’s farm
Weston's Farm in Fryeburg, Maine, has been making maple syrup in its sugarhouse for more than 150 years. As a Maine sugar house, it will have its big annual celebration on Maine Maple Sunday, March 24, when the sugar house will be open 10 a.m.-3 p.m., offering demonstrations and free samples of syrup on ice cream. After the sugaring season is over, Weston's products can also be found at its farmstands at the farm in Fryeburg starting in May and on West Side Road in Conway starting in June.
Weston's Farm, 48 River St., Fryeburg.
(207) 935-2567
Photo courtesy of the Weston’s Farm website
remick country doctor museum & farm
The Remick Country Doctor Museum & Farm in Tamworth is a museum dedicated to old New England farming (and medicine, as its last Remick owner was a country doctor in the mid-20th century). In addition to exhibits, the museum offers programs demonstrating the history of farming techniques. Coming up on March 21, it will host a free New Hampshire Humanities presentation: "Maple — New Hampshire's Medicine of Connection."
Remick Country Doctor Museum & Farm, 58 Cleveland Hill Road, Tamworth
(603) 323-7591
Photo courtesy of The Remick Farm Facebook page
