Stowe, Tuesday, July 23, 2024
After another breakfast with goodies from the bakery, I headed up to retrieve my car, which had been charging overnight at the Outdoor Center. On the way back I saw a sheep formation that I couldn’t pass up.
We headed into town to stroll around and check out the new openings, followed by a quick bite at a gringoish Mexican joint.
The afternoon saw another kid adventure: Trapp’s “Sugar Tour,” where you learn about maple syrup from start to finish. Our guide, Katy Ann, was a real crusty Vermonter; as Emily said, she grew on us. The walk took us out Sugar Road and down Sugarhouse Chute.
Trapp has three “sugar bushes” with a total of about 2000 tapped maples, a small operation by Vermont standards. They produce just enough syrup to serve in their restaurants and sell in their shops.
Sugar season is relatively short, from late winter to early spring. It takes, on average, 40 gallons of sap to make one gallon of syrup. The taps run into small green tubes, each of which is then connected to a larger main line that runs directly to the sugar house.
In the sugar house, the long open pan sits atop the “arch,” or wood. burning cast iron stove.
And here is Katy Ann telling the kids about the stove.
I had always assumed that the four grades of syrup–from golden through amber and on to very dark–were the result of different types of processing. Not so. The tree itself determines the color and viscosity; the master sugarer simply takes a sample of each batch and determines the grade.
It started raining during our inspection of the sugar house; we waited for a while, but it showed no signs of letting up, so we had a delightful walk through the warm rain back to the Outdoor Center.
Once we had dried out a bit, we ran into town and bought steaks at The Butchery and corn at Macs. Andrew manned the grill, and we had a wonderful dinner. The 2008 Produttori del Barbaesco Reserve Paje was a great accompaniment!