This past weekend was what is known as “Maple Sugaring Weekend” in New England. Both New Hampshire and Vermont ran open houses at many of their local maple sugaring houses all over the state. This caught my attention, as I have a definite sweet tooth.
Most, if not all maple sugar products are vegan, so off I went on day’s journey into the wooded areas of New Hampshire’s farm country!

The internet proved to be a valuable resource in my quest for a variety of maple products. Both New Hampshire and Vermont provide a detailed online listing, by county, of the maple sugar houses that participate in the open house weekend(www.nhmapleproducers.com/weekend2011.html). I selected two of them. The first was located in southeastern New Hampshire, fairly close to the coast. The second was located about an hour north, closer to the central part of the state. Why two of them, you may ask? Well..Each of them offered different free samples and unique maple products to purchase. I was eager to try all of them!

The first place I visited was Sugarmomma’s Maple Farm in Northwood, New Hampshire (www.sugarmommasmaple.com). They offered free samples of maple syrup, cream, popcorn, and cotton candy. Various flavors of maple nuts(cashews, walnuts, peanuts), candy, cotton candy, hot sauce and maple soft serve ice cream were available for purchase. While the popcorn and ice cream contained dairy, the other products were indeed vegan. I purchased a pint of Grade B dark amber maple syrup, maple cotton candy, maple butter(no actual butter), and maple covered walnuts. What a difference to taste these products right from the source, as opposed to a mass marketed product in the supermarket. Each item tasted incredibly sweet and delicious! The maple butter makes a great spread on toast or on oatmeal. The maple syrup is perfect for pancakes or waffles.

After trying the free samples and purchasing some of the maple products, I walked over to the sugaring house for their early afternoon tour. The owner described the process of collecting sap from the maple trees then funneling it into the thick pipe which flows into the boiler machine. Then the liquid is boiled for many hours before converting to the sugary substance we know as maple syrup.

The owner also mentioned that the farm is organic and tries to use all healthy items in their processing. The syrup is filtered with sunflower oil. This farm also maintains several types of animals and poultry. One can visit the chickens, turkeys, and several pigs. After visiting the animals, it was time to head over to the next sugaring house in another county.

My second stop was at Cormier’s Sugarhouse in Belmont, New Hampshire. Outside of the sugaring house, a table of free samples greeted each visitor. I tried the maple fried dough. Although mentioned online, maple sugar on snow was not offered, as the temperature was quite mild.

This is a small mom and pop operation. As the owner stated, the native Americans centuries ago made maple syrup the old-fashion way without vaccums, so that is how it should be done now also. After I watched the sap flowing into the boiling machine and heard the owner speak of the process to boil the sap, I decided to embark on the remainder of the tour into the wooded area to actually see the saplings. Many of the maple trees had thin tubes attached to them where the sap flowed into large buckets placed under them, so the sap could be collected. Garden hoses then pumped the large buckets of sap into the sugarhouse pipe where it feeds into the boiler machine.

I enjoyed seeing and hearing how sap is collected, boiled, and made into the many maple syrup products that we love to eat! I encourage vegan travelers to also partake in an event such as this for a winter/early spring getaway. These tasty vegan products are a part of Americana at its finest and should be enjoyed by any vegan traveling through the New England region of the United States in early springtime!