Once the weather warms up and we have cold evenings and above-freezing days, the maple sap starts flowing. As you drive around, you can see—among the trees—buckets, tubing, and other collection devices capturing, storing, and transporting maple sap. Once collected, the syrup makes its way to maple houses where it is heated, with the resulting evaporation condensing the liquid to the thick syrup we all love.
Visiting maple houses is a great way to spend the day. Each sugar shack is different. Each has somewhat different equipment and construction and all have people with wonderful stories about their product and processes. As they add wood to the fire and dole out samples, you can find out how long their families have been sugaring, how their process is different from others, how many maple trees they have on how many acres, and more. And tasting syrup is a little like tasting wine. Differences in flavor depend on the trees, the location, and the grade of the syrup. And the scent of maple from the wafting steam is intoxicating. It stays with you for the day as you go from one sugar shack to the next.
Two of the Lyme Inn principals make maple syrup every year. It’s an authentic New England practice. (In the fall homemade apple cider happens!)
Maple producers offer open houses on dedicated weekends of sugaring season. Sugar shacks are open for tours, tasting, and sales!
The 2023 New Hampshire Maple Producers Weekend is March 18 & 19. Vermont’s Maple Sugar Makers’ Association Weekends are March 25 & 26 and April 1 & 2.
Come enjoy New England at the Lyme Inn in Lyme, New Hampshire. Enjoy sugaring season, maple syrup, and everything else our area has to offer.
