Sweet season! March is maple sugaring month

PRIME – March 2014 By Debbie Gardner debbieg@thereminder.com For those of us who live in New England, it's more a harbinger of a change in the seasons than the groundhog's dubious predictions. As soon as we start getting warm days followed by cold nights, we know it's about to begin. The maple sugaring season, that is. "One of the things I like about sugaring is that people feel that kind of connection. They want to know when it's going to start," Winton Pitcoff, coordinator of the Massachusetts Maple Producers Association, said. "People don't ask about the tomato crop, and when that's going to start." The unpredictable nature of the sugaring season seems to be part of its appeal to what Pitcoff calls "maple tourists" – those people who look forward to that annual chance to visit a working sugarhouse and perhaps, sample some pancakes or waffles topped with Massachusetts-made pure maple syrup. "We could have an abrupt warm up and a short season," Pitcoff explained. "What we hope for is a gradual warm up to cold nights that are below freezing, and warm days that are above freezing. The sap doesn't run at night, but for it to run during the day, the trees basically need to recharge." He added that as soon as those warm days and cool nights begin, "by all means it's time to go out and visit a sugarhouse. "The best thing is to find a local sugarhouse and visit and find out what makes maple syrup so good," he said, adding that purchasing the syrup, sugar and other maple products theses sugarhouses produce is a way everyone can contribute to the local economy and support area farms. Local residents don't have to go far to find a farm producing the sweet crop. Of the nearly 300 maple syrup producing operations in the state, the majority of them are in located in Western Massachusetts. In 2013, Pitcoff said the annual agricultural survey recorded that the state's sugarhouses ran approximately 280,000 taps and produced 63,000 gallons of pure maple syrup. A sweet history Dennis Picard, director of Storrowton Village in West Springfield, Mass., said that though it is the sweet syrup that draws tourists today, that was not the original product New Englanders desired when they originally began to tap the native maple trees and collect the sap. "Maple syrup is a relatively new product," Picard explained. Because it is a natural product without preservatives, "Maple syrup will spoil, or go moldy, fairly quickly. It wasn't until canning was perfected in the 1890s that it became reasonable to put away syrup." Picard said since the 1500s, when Europeans fishing off the coast of Canada first observed Native Americans collecting sap and boiling it down in wooden vessels by adding hot stones, the principle reason to tap maple trees was to produce a kind of sugar. Called "country sugar," this maple-based sweetener was a cheap alternative to the white sugar produced on slave-powered farms in the south and was widely used in the Northeast for hundreds of years by both settlers and Native Americans. Storrowton is sugaring On March 16, Storrowton Village, which is located on the grounds of the Eastern States Exposition on Memorial Avenue, will demonstrate the old-fashioned method of collecting and preserving maple tree sap as part of a Pancake Breakfast and Maple Harvest Day at the Village. The breakfast, sponsored by the West Springfield Lions Club, takes place from 10 a.m. to noon in the Village's Red Barn. Tickets are $5 per person at the door, and seating is on a first-come, first served basis. Picard said the Village is providing the Massachusetts-made maple syrup for the breakfast, sourced from a local sugarhouse. Beginning at 11 a.m., the Village will host its own maple harvest demonstration, which will include tapping a tree in the Village, syrup and sugar making activities, as well as house tours and open-hearth cooking demonstrations. The Village events, which are free and open to the public, will conclude at 3 p.m. "We'll be using sumac taps and the open-style of boiling. We're even predating the evaporators that are pretty much in vogue [at sugar houses] right now," Picard said. "The tree that we tap, we'll get about a gallon [of sap]." In preparation for the event, he noted the Exposition maintenance staff will also tap the 80 maple trees on the Exposition grounds prior to Harvest Day to insure there is enough material for a boiling demonstration. Picard said the Village would be boiling the sap all the way down to the thick product used to make sugar, then pouring it through a felt-lined funnel to filter out the impurities, called nitre. The resulting sugar is used in their hearth cooking demonstrations throughout the year. More Maple events The Maple Harvest at Storrowton Village isn't the only opportunity local "maple tourists" will have to take advantage a special event celebrating this year's maple harvest. Pitcoff said the Massachusetts Maple Producers Association would be sponsoring its own Maple Weekend March 22 and 23. "There will be a recipe contest, a lot of restaurants will be featuring maple products in their cooking [that weekend] and a lot of sugar houses will be hosting open houses," he said. For more information about the Maple Weekend, and local farms participating in this year's maple sugaring season, visit www.massmaple.org . Make a day of it! Listed here by town are the Western Massachusetts sugar houses that offer dining in addition to demonstrations of the maple sugaring process: Key to abbreviations: EF: eating facilities; WB: wood fuel used to boil; OB: oil fuel used to boil; MO: mail order brochure available; TG: tour groups (by appointment); WH: wholesale accounts taken; HA: handicapped accessible. Ashfield South Face Farm Sugarhouse Tom McCrumm & Judy Haupt www.southfacefarm.com , info@southfacefarm.com Tel: 413- 628-3268 Directions: Located at 755 Watson-Spruce Corner Road. Go west off Route 112 onto Route 116-N, toward Plainfield. Go 2.3 miles, turn right on Watson-Spruce Corner Road. Go 1.4 miles to sugarhouse. Watch for signs. Sugarhouse restaurant open weekends during March and early-April, 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Traditional old New England sugarhouse with educational and antique maple equipment displays. EF, OB, MO, WH Charlemont Warfield House Inn @ Valley View Farm John Warfield Glaze 200 Warfield Road. Tel: 413-339-6600 EF, WB, TG, WH Deerfield Williams Farm Sugarhouse The Williams Family williamsfarminc@comcast.net http://williamsfarmsugarhouse.com/ . Tel: 413-773-5186 Directions: Farm is on Routes 5 & 10, 1/4 mile south of Historic Deerfield Village. Open mid-Feb. to mid-April. Pancake breakfasts served daily. Sugarhouse tours available. Maple products available all year. EF, OB, MO, TG, HA, WH Granby Parker's Sugar House and Bed & Breakfast Edward Parker Tel: 413-467-7751 Directions: Farm is located at 310 Amherst St. Just off Route 116 near Amherst line. Sugarhouse and antique tractor tours available with bed and breakfast year round. WB, WH, MO Granville Maple Corner Farm Leon & Joyce Ripley maplecornerfarm@juno.com Tel: 413-357-8829 Directions: Farm is at 794 Beech Hill Road. 1.5 miles west of Blandford Center, off Route 23. Maple products available all year. Maple museum, sugarhouse tours and restaurant open weekends mid-Feb. to mid-April. Cross country skiing available. EF, WB, MO, TG, WH Hadley North Hadley Sugar Shack John & Joe Boisvert & family www.northhadleysugarshack.com . Tel: 413-585-8820 Directions: Farm is at 181 River Drive. From Route 9 take Route 47 north about 3 miles. Open Fri, Sat and Sun only from late Feb. to mid-April serving pancake breakfasts. Open daily Labor Day through Dec. 23 with our farm stand and maple syrup. Call ahead for tours. Orders shipped all year, call for a catalog. EF, WB, TG, HA, WH, MO Hancock Ioka Valley Farm Robert & Melissa Leab www.iokavalleyfarm.com , info@iokavalleyfarm.com Tel: 413-738-5915 Directions: Farm is located at 3475 Route 43, 1/2 mile from Jiminy Peak Resort. Four miles from intersection of Route 43 & Route 22 in Stephentown, N.Y. Eight miles from Williamstown. Sugarhouse restaurant open mid-Feb. thru early April. EF, WB, OB, MO, HA, TG, WH New Salem Hamilton Orchards www.hamiltonorchards.com Tel: 978-544-6867 Directions: Farm is located at northern end of Quabbin reservoir, just off route 202, 25 West St. Restaurant open March and April, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., weekends only, breakfast all day. Shelburne Davenport Maple Farm Norm Davenport & family davenportmaple@yahoo.com Tel: 413-625-2866 Directions: Farm is located off Route 2 in Shelburne Center. Go north on Little Mohawk Road, follow signs. Sales room open all year restaurant open weekends 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., March to mid-April. OB, MO, EF, HA Gould's Sugarhouse The Family of Edgar Gould www.goulds-sugarhouse.com Tel: 413-625-6170 Directions: Take Exit 26 off I-91, 7 miles west on Route 2/Mohawk Trail in Shelburne. Restaurant open during sugaring and foliage seasons. EF, WB, MO Westfield Pomeroy's Sugarhouse Harlow Pomeroy www.pomeroysugarhouse.com Tel: 413-568-3484 Directions: Farm is located at 491 Russellville Road. Follow signs from Route10 & 202 by Purple Onion. Come have breakfast and pet farm animals at our working dairy farm. EF, WB, TG, HA Westhampton Hanging Mountain Farm Anita & Leo Aloisi www.hangingmountainfarms.com Tel: 413-527-3210 Directions: Farm is located at 188 North Rd. Take Route 66 west from Northampton about 6 miles. Take right onto N. Loudville Road, just after bridge. Turn right at stop sign onto North Road, 1 mile to sugarhouse on left. Breakfast served in unique strawbale building. EF, WB, MO, HA Steve's Sugar Shack Stephan Holt Tel:413-527-0294 Directions: Farm is located at 34 North Road. Breakfast served weekends only, end of Feb. through mid-April, 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. EF, WB, TG, HA, WH Worthington High Hopes Sugarhouse The Rowe Family www.highhopesmaple.com Tel: 413-238-5919 Directions: Farm is located at 1132 Huntington Road at Huntington/Worthington town line. Gift Shop with local crafts. "All you can eat" sugarhouse buffet. Serving 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. on weekends late-Feb. thru mid-April, and again during fall foliage season. EF, WB, MO, TG, HA The Red Bucket Sugar Shack Jeff & LeAnn Mason Tel: 413-238-7710 Directions: Farm is located off Route 112, go 2.7 miles south to 584 Kinne Brook Road. Maple products and gift packs available year 'round. Pancake restaurant open weekends mid-Feb to mid-April. WB, EF, MO, TG Windy Hill Farm Jerry Mollison Tel: 413-238-5378 Directions: Farm is located on Sam Hill Road off Route 112 in Worthington, 1 mile south of lights. Full line of maple products. WB, MO, HA, WH, EF, TG>