Maple Sugar and Maple Syrup

[BakerAunt]

I was going to order more maple sugar from KABC, but the website states it is "sold out for the season." I ended up going to Vermont Country Store and buying a pound of it--which is probably less expensive than what I would have paid per ounce at KABC. To get free shipping, I decided to buy dark maple syrup, and discovered that they are sold out of the 24 oz. jars of it. I ended up buying two quart jugs, although I'm not keen on plastic containers.

Perhaps this question is for Chocomouse: What kind of maple season was it last spring? Is there a shortage, or is maple syrup another commodity that is now "hot" due to the pandemic?

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[chocomouse]

We had a decent syrup season last year -- not "wow", but not bad. Comparisons for us are difficult, since we spent over 100,000 on a new building, all new, high-tech equipment, etc. And last year was our first year as a "commercial" official business. We had also planned to tap many new trees, thus increasing our capacity, but that didn't happen due to unexpected issues. I have not heard any talk about a shortage of syrup; most years there is surplus, which is stored for the future. However, I would expect usage is up (parents working from home and feeding home-from-school kids pancakes!) so pressure is on supply-demand.

We sell our syrup for $10.00 a quart (I hear you "gasp"; I keep telling my husband he needs to raise the price a little! But he wants to make it affordable, and doesn't need to make a ton of profit). Three quarts fit into the USPS pre-paid $15 shipping box, so you get 3 quarts for $45.00. We ship only in the plastic bottles, to avoid the inevitable breakage.

I know you said you do not like the plastic; that's why I didn't offer to sell you any syrup the last time we talked about this! I don't know why you don't like the plastic, but you can repackage it.

You can easily pour the syrup into glass containers (we personally use mason jars) and reseal them. That means heating the syrup up to 180*, pouring it into sterilized jars (think canning) up to about 1/4" from the top, put on the lid and screw band, then turn upside down for about a minute to seal. Syrup that is processed this way will keep probably forever, although many folks say three year. Once it is opened, it must be refrigerated. However, if your syrup ever does get mold growing on it, just scrape off the mold, and heat the sryup to 180* and reseal or refrigerate.

We have only the "dark robust" grade of syrup. That used to be called B grade. A lot of folks believe that means inferior syrup - it is not. It's the only kind I use, and is preferred by most Vermonters and bakers. All syrup has to meet certain standards. All syrup that meets those standards will have the same density - measured with a hygrometer. The flavor may differ somewhat from farm to farm, depending on the terroir. If there is an off-taste, something is terribly wrong- like re-using a mason jar that once was filled with pickles! We do not reuse plastic jugs. We do not wash our glass jars with soap - that can impart an odd taste. Glass is not impervious. Or, using sap from a maple tree in late spring after the tree has budded; it gets a bitter, sharp taste.

Please let me know if you have questions, or want to order some syrup!

[BakerAunt]

I should have posted here before I placed that order! Sigh. From now on, Chocomouse, I will contact you first! We are devotees of dark maple syrup, and I use a cup every time I make granola, which is frequently, as it has become one of my husband's favorite snacks. In addition to pancakes and waffles, I've been using it more in my cooking and baking.

I try to avoid plastic when I can since I doubt that much of it gets recycled, since so many people around here are careless with what they put into their recycle bins, and if a load has too much contamination, it gets dumped with the trash. I thought that glass might not be as bad for the environment, which is why I have favored it.

I didn't realize that soap could affect glass and damage the flavor of the maple syrup.

I did buy a large jar of maple syrup this summer at the farmers market, as I did last year. They guy selling it is from Michigan and said that demand was such that the cooperative didn't think any would be left over to divide amongst them.

[RiversideLen]

Chocomouse, how does one go about ordering your maple syrup, do you have a website for it?

[Mike Nolan]

The recycling pickup services here won't take glass any more.

You can still take glass to the city recycling centers, but I've heard they're having trouble finding buyers for it.

[BakerAunt]

The West Texas city in which I used to live had a glass crushing machine. The glass was very popular with people who used it in garden areas to prevent weeds. They never had any left. Then the machine broke, it would be expensive to fix, and that was that. Lubbock never did have curbside recycling--well, they did, but it depended on colored bags in the dumpster with the trash, and it turned out none of it was being recycled. We always took our recycling to a drop-off place, but there was the same problem with people not paying attention to what should go in what bin, and what should not.

Where we live now, in north central Indiana, there has been recycling for around twenty years, but the company does not make an effort to educate people as to what can be put into the bins and what cannot. It's on the company website, but a lot of people do not bother looking at the website. Mixing paper in with plastic cans, and glass means that everything has to be dry, or the paper and cardboard is ruined for recycling. The glass, cans, and plastic ae supposed to be empty and clean. So, that is already a barrier for people who want a quick fix.

One of our friends noted her neighbor's recycling bin had blown open. When she went to close it, she found it full of nice towels and linens. She pulled them out, washed and kept some, washed and donated others. The next recycling day, she looked inside and found lots of nice pots and pans--some much better than what she had, so she retrieved them, washed and kept some and donated the others. She decided to ask the wife. It's a summer/vacation home for them, and like a lot of houses around the lake, it was bought complete with furniture and contents. The woman told her, "I do not like using stuff that belonged to someone else." OK, but she had no clue that such items do NOT belong in the recycling bin.

More common errors are the pizza boxes, recyclables in plastic bags which mess up the equipment, the wrong numbers (and I get this last one because some of those numbers are hard to find and really tiny), or items that are the correct number but not actually recyclable with the same numbers.

Recycling is much more complicated than most place's "feel good" recycling bins imply. There needs to be an effort to create a use for what can be recycled, an effort to create a system for collecting it that works, and an effort to reduce what needs to be recycled (sometimes called pre-cycling). The pandemic has exacerbated the issues with the proliferation of plastic bags from the grocery, carryout containers, disposable masks and gloves.

[chocomouse]

Vermont is a leader in the sustainable living movement. We have superb recyling facilities and programs, and a lot of education around the issues. As of July 1, we could no longer put food scraps into our regular trash, and that led to many towns scrambling to locate central collection points. If you compost (as we have, for 35 years) you are allowed to put meat and bone scraps into your regular trash. There are now many new collaboratives formed to collect and process all food scraps. However, I suspect there are still a lot of people who will not make the effort to separate food from other recyclables. It's all matter of attitude and effort.

[chocomouse]

Len, or anyone else who would like to order syrup, the address to order is scruggssugarhouse@gmail.com. My husband or son will respond, although our son just left for a 10 day camping trip in Maine so may not always have phone/internet connections. They do not have a website yet, but do have a Venmo account for payment, and do accept checks.

[Mike Nolan]

Restaurants recycle cooking oils, but as far as I can tell the recycling companies here won't accept home cooking oils.

The Wall Street Journal had a series of articles some months back about recycling laws in China, you can go to jail there for not recycling correctly.

[chocomouse]

Food-grade oils must be recycled in Vermont, and recycling companies do take them. There are some centers that accept motor oil, etc, but not many. Many areas/town in VT do not have companies that do curbside pick up of trash, or they might pick up trash but not separate out the recyclables.

[skeptic7]

Chocomouse; I'll write to you next time I need maple syrup. I like to buy cans when I'm in Canada for myself and as gifts, but didn't have a Martial arts seminar there this summer.
I'd like to use less plastic but its so hard. I depend on plastic bags in the freezer and plastic freezer containers. How did people freeze cookies before plastic wrap?

[chocomouse]

Skeptic, I do remember you said you like to have your syrup in the cans, not plastic. Years ago (1980s, we made about 15-20 gallons a year then, just for family), we put our syrup into empty liquor bottles, and asked friends and relatives to save their empties for us. My son, in grade 7, was part of a local church youth group that provided a breakfast following Easter sunrise services, and he donated some of our syrup. Easter morning, he walked down the center aisle of the church with a half-gallon Jim Beam bottle in each hand! I was told there were many loud gasps from the congregation. He was completely oblivious to what was happening. In the end, there was plenty of syrup for all the pancakes they served. When the liquor companies began using plastic instead of glass, we lost our cheap supply of bottles and started using mason jars!

[BakerAunt]

A glass jar shortage could be behind Vermont Country Store not having the large jars. We buy honey from a local beekeeper, and he told us he has had to raise his prices due to the increased cost of the glass jars. We wash and return our jars, because as someone who makes jam, I am grateful when people return the empty jars. He was happy to get the jars back and gives us a discount on each bottle for the bottle returned. I have saved the Vermont Country Store jars because they can be used for canning, and sometimes a three cup jar is a handy size.

[skeptic7]

Chocomouse -- I now have three quarts of your maple syrup! Will it keep indefinitely unopened? Should I keep it in the basement which is relatively cooler than upstairs. I'm looking forward to trying more recipes using maple syrup now that I have plenty. I was saving my maple syrup for oatmeal and pancakes and frosting where the flavor would stand out.

[Mike Nolan]

There's a Vermont Maple Oatmeal Bread on the KAF site, it is very good, even better if you throw in a handful of raisins and a little cinnamon.

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