Dave's Educational Video Series - Syrup Making

Last weekend Melissa and I took a short trip up to Vermont to make some maple syrup. Unbeknownst to us, the cosmic ether twisted during our plane ride up to the snowy north and we arrived to find ourselves staying at the same location as Melissa's parents and grandparents. Clearly strange and powerful forces colluded to bring about this coincidence. I have dubbed this force "Monster-in-Law" and truly she is a formidable foe¹.

A few comments before the chronicle of our adventure:

• The sound heard at the beginning and end of the video is what you hear if you stand near a tapped maple tree and remain silent²
  
• Melissa had a pretty nasty sore throat while we were in Vermont; whenever you think a Muppet is narrating, it's Melissa
  
• The video is just over seven minutes long. You may want to grab a soda or something while it buffers if you have a slow internet connection

Sugaring in Vermont

While making syrup we also had what Melissa's family referred to as a "sugar party." The reason for the name became apparent as I learned what to do. It started out with Melissa's Aunt Sandra (below) boiling maple syrup even further until it was ready³. We then hustled outside while the (now very thick) syrup was still warm, patted down a patch of snow, applied the syrup, and ate it. Essentially we were eating pure maple sugar. It was exquisite.

Something else I learned during this experience is that maple sap is actually quite thin. When most people hear the word "sap" they tend to envision the super sticky stuff produced by pine trees. Maple sap, on the other hand, looks and feels more or less like water⁴.

At the end of the day it was time to grade our syrup. Maple syrup producers take their syrup making very seriously, so they've developed a grading scale to distinguish the various qualities of syrup. The grades are: Fancy (sometimes known as Grade A Light Amber), Grade A Medium Amber, Grade A Dark Amber and Grade B. Which grade is considered the best is a matter of taste. I can however say this, there was some definite swelling of pride going on in the sugar house when the following photo was taken:⁵

Interestingly, syrup producers have no control over what grade they make; it is 100% dependent on the sap harvested from the trees.

Stay tuned for the next installment in our educational video line in which we'll show you how to make your own air conditioning unit using nothing but your refrigerator, duct tape, and some trash bags!

-Dave

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¹My father-in-law was the driving force behind this trip, but Jwan and I already have the Monster-in-Law joke running, so I got lazy and ran with it.
²Something very difficult to capture with several people around.
³I'm not clear on how the determination was made that it was "ready." I think there may have been some magic involved.
⁴Anyone who's watched the video and is curious about what the sap tastes like can do the following: get an 8 oz. glass of water. Stir in a tablespoon of sugar. Drink.
⁵It doesn't come across as well in the photo, but we definitely produced Fancy.