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March 26, 2005
springtime rituals
Last weekend my housemates Joe and Margot accompanied Johanna and I out to Leverett, MA, where my parents have lived for 20+ years and where I grew up. It’s the height of maple sugaring season and my family has for years had their own pint-sized sugaring operation. We tap about six or seven sugar maples around the perimeter of our property, hanging usually one bucket per tree (but on the bigger-trunks you’ll see two and, in one case, three). There’s always this narrow window of a few weeks in March and April when the nights are in the 20s and the days are in the high 40s and 50s. During these few weeks, the sap is running and you know you’re in the heart of sugaring season. A tree whose sap is “running fast” will play an adagio tempo (one or two drops per second) with it’s metal pail.
Joe (who, when I first met him quaffed a cup or more of a pina-colada mix and curry powder (to “impress me” he later says)) went straight for the sap, pouring himself a small glass of the sugar water, amazed by it’s similarity to normal water in appearance and tickled by the gentle sugar flavor. We stood in the shade of the three-bucket tree and imagined the water from under our feet being sucked into the little tendrils of roots and being filtered through maple fibers and delivered to us, through the metallic spout. Consensus: the tree likely is a better filter than our PurWater contraption at home.
This morning, I enjoyed some of the syrup we boiled down in my oatmeal. The final nectar of this labor-intensive distillation/boiling down process is usually best when you’ve achieved a 40:1 ration between initial sap and final syrup product.
Posted by nick at March 26, 2005 12:25 PM
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Comments
dude. you’re sappy. welcome aboard.
Posted by: taus at March 25, 2005 09:59 PM
yay front page news! you old sap.
Posted by: 1e at March 26, 2005 05:13 AM
Johanna and me, not I
Posted by: Maurice ze Huntaire at March 26, 2005 07:39 PM
this is he
Posted by: 1e at March 28, 2005 01:38 PM
“Johanna and I”… Ah-ha! The anize circle just keeps getting interesting. And with the “CUT” factor to boot?!… I say, there’s really no end to my level of intrigue and my sense of pride for us humble anizers…
(I hope my use of ‘us’ satisfies your friend Maurice!…)
Posted by: Bell at March 29, 2005 12:26 AM