Sugaring Off a Rite of Spring
When the Sap Flows
By: Martha Bentley - 04/01/2010
Plastic jugs attached to maple trees are a familiar image in the Berkshires. 
View Full Size
Steam billowing out of the roof of a sugar house in full swing. 
View Full Size
We visited Gould’s on Route Two along the Mohawk Trail. 
View Full Size
Working the vat. 
View Full Size
Most of the sap is boiled off. 
View Full Size
Tending to the process. 
View Full Size
A ladder to look into the vat. 
View Full Size
testing a sample 
View Full Size
Stoking the fire. 
View Full Size
Keeping it nice and hot. 
View Full Size
You know if you every bought even a small jug of pure maple syrup. It comes in several grades.
Along the Mohawk Trail we visited a sugar house and watched the large scale operation. Long lengths of split wood were fed in to make the fire under the vat of sap. Much of it escaped as vapor billowing out of a large gap in the roof.
Now and then an attendant drew off a sample for testing. It takes a lot of sap to boil down as concentrated syrup.
There is a narrow window of time when the sap flows sure sign of spring.
Reader Comments