The rich, sweet maple syrup that graces waffles, pancakes and other confections world wide, flows from Vermont’s maple forests every spring. Once upon a time buckets hung from small pipes hammered into maple trunks in late February or early March. Nowadays you will probably see blue plastic tubing snaking through the woods making horse drawn sap collections just a memory, but it carries the same tasty sap to the sugarhouse where it will yield a variety of palate pleasing products.

In the sugarhouse, much of the sap’s water is evaporated off concentrating it into Maple syrup, and that in turn can be used to create Maple Candy, Maple Cream, Maple Jelly or Maple Sugar. Many producers have retail outlets on site and offer tours so you can see how the clear maple sap becomes one of Vermont’s best-known products. Vermont accounts for roughly half of all US maple syrup production.

You’ll find sugaring tours at places like Maple Grove in St. Johnsbury and Maple Weekend in Bennington at the southern end of the state – and nearly everywhere in between.

For more information – Check out the home of the Vermont Maple home site at www.vtmaple.org