Upper Valley photographer Edward Fielding captures the maple syrup season from around the area in the forests and farms of Vermont and New Hampshire where each late winter/early spring maple trees are tapped for their sap which is boiled down to sweet syrup.
A local farmer checks on his batch of maple syrup. He uses a traditional scoop to watch what it looks like as it drips back down into the pan. When he stops getting separate drops, but instead starts getting the liquid joining together into more of a stream or sheet, then it’s done.
Once the sap is flowing and the evaporators are fired up, its all hands on deck with this around the clock operation that requires three generations of long time maple producers to maximize the short season when the sap flows.
Scientific methods have been introduced to maple syrup production including reverse osmosis systems to remove water and vacuum systems of plastic piping that have mostly replaced the old taps and galvanized pails but sometimes tradition and good old fashioned inspection is the best way to tell when the syrup is ready.
Canada produces 80% of the world maple syrup. Vermont is the biggest US producer, with over 1,140,000 US gallons (4,300,000 l) during the 2011 season, followed by New York with 564,000 US gallons (2,130,000 l) and Maine with 360,000 US gallons (1,400,000 l). Wisconsin, Ohio, New Hampshire, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, and Connecticut all produced marketable quantities of maple syrup of less than 120,000 US gallons (450,000 l) each in 2011. As of 2003, Vermont produced about 5.5 percent of the global syrup supply.
Directory of New Hampshire Maple Syrup producers – https://nhmapleproducers.com/directory
