By DAVID BROOKS
The annual celebration of New Hampshire’s sweetest product will happen this weekend.
More than 80 sugarhouses across the state will open their doors and make syrup as part of New Hampshire’s annual Maple Weekend.
“Maple Weekend, for the producers of New Hampshire maple, is kind of like the Super Bowl for maple production,” said Andrew Chisholm, president of the New Hampshire Maple Producers Association. “It’s the time of year when maple producers across the state open their doors and welcome customers to experience a family tradition that takes multi-generations in many cases to keep going.”
The event, celebrated in early spring when warmer days and below-freezing nights help maple sap flow up and down maple trees, brings thousands of visitors.
During this period, the trees produce the sap that is boiled down into maple syrup. Although the schedule has changed as the climate has changed, maple producers drill holes into trees and collect the sap that runs out, using buckets as well as modern vacuum-pump enhanced tubing.
The sap is carefully boiled down by a ratio of around 40-to-1 until the correct sweetness and viscosity is produced. It is then used for everything from traditional syrup on pancakes to maple candies and other delights.
“Residents, I hope, will get the experience of something that they may or may not have ever had the chance to do,” Chisholm added. “Some sugarhouses are only open for Maple Weekend.”
Maple Weekend will kick off with Governor Kelly Ayotte participating in a ceremonial tree tapping at Journey’s End Maple in Pittsfield on Friday, March 14, at 2:30 p.m. The public is invited to attend the ceremony.
The New Hampshire Maple Producers Association has a map of participating sugarhouses and their offerings, from tastings and horse-drawn wagon rides to pancake breakfasts and the chance to make sugar-on-snow.
Check out https://www.nhmaplemap.com/sugarhouse to find a sugarhouse near you.
