The Sticky Stuff

It's only early September but soon New Hampshire will be overrun by tourists gawking at the changing tree leaves while dodging Canadian goose poop on the grass in our state parks. An important part of this yearly ritual is the hunt for 'authentic' maple syrup, and the thousands of by-products made from maple syrup, like maple sugar candy, maple sugar mustard (really! not kidding!), maple sugar butter, maple sugar party favors, and etc. Now, the truth is that maple syrup is commonly harvested and made in just about all the states of the Northeastern U.S. (including New Jersey) and Canada, but it's strongly associated with New England, particularly northern New England (New Hampshire, Vermont, Maine), so to visit New Hampshire and leave without a maple sugar candy-shaped moose would be like going to Miami and not buying a toy stuffed dolphin. In fact, New Hampshirites are very proud of all their home-made foods and crafts, as we'll be exploring more later. Indeed, I have filled out some of my Christmas gifts to friends and family outside New Hampshire with locally-made crafts and items like maple syrup products. I was once busted at an airport, in fact, for trying to bring a quart of New Hampshire maple syrup to some relatives I was visiting back when the strict rules about bringing liquids on planes were still in force. Apparently the terrorists have found a way to hijack a plane with maple syrup, and so I posed a threat to my fellow passengers.

These maple syrup associations take their craft very seriously, though, having official grades judged by color and other attributes, and no serious maple syrup producer would ever consider not belonging to the official state association. The video above was made by one of my favorite producers, Ben's Sugar Shack along Route 101 in southern New Hampshire. As one maple syrup producer explained to me, real maple syrup is made up of only about 16% sugar, while the artificial stuff you buy in super markets can often be 80-90% sugar, via corn syrup. Yikes. So even if your friends call you a snob for insisting on the real stuff, do yourself (and your kids) a favor and go out of your way for authentic maple syrup. By the way, did I mention we make that stuff here in New Hampshire.....?