New Hampshire Maple Sugar Weekend

Consider a trip to New Hampshire on the weekend of 29-30 March. More than 140 sugarhouses will be open throughout the state. The New Hampshire Maple Producers Association has details, location maps and links to its members on its website, or call the Maple Hotline at 603:225-3757.

Weather deals tough blow to maple syrup season

Hank Peterson of Londonderry shows samples of the grades of syrup produced at his sugar shack in Londonderry last year. (NH.com staff file photo by Bob Hammerstrom)

Maple syrup production is almost wholly dependent on the weather, and the past season was not a particularly good one, reports NH.com.

“It wasn’t terrible, but not good, either,” said Ben Fisk of Ben’s Sugar Shack in Temple.

He made about 770 gallons this year but should have made more.

“I should have made a thousand,” Fisk said. “It got too warm, and then it got too cold. It was just up and down too much.”

Maple producers throughout the state had varied results during the season, with the majority harvesting about two-thirds of an average crop, according to the New Hampshire Maple Producers Association.

Read more here.

New Hampshire's first rite of spring

"March is maple sugaring time in New Hampshire. This uniquely North American natural phenomenon Nature is not restricted to the calendar like school vacations, holidays or town meeting day, but is dictated solely by day-night weather changes. Cold nights in the 20's followed by warm days when the temperatures go up into the 40's, absent a chilling wind, are the requirements for the sap to run.

"Our sugaring season can begin in late February and run into early April and even stop in between. Although sugaring season does coincide with mud season, no one knows how long the season is going to be until after it's over."

Read more at the University of New Hampshire Cooperative Extension Service website.

Maple sugar slump in New Hampshire, too

The Sugar Shack in Barrington, NH.
"The maple sugaring season is drawing to a close, and at least one producer who took part in the recent N.H. Maple Weekend seems less than satisfied with this year's results," writes Jackie Ricciardi in SeaCoastOnLine.

"Ken Gowen, owner of The Sugar Shack in Barrington, said a good year would bring in about 600 gallons of maple syrup. So far, the Shack has produced only 130-140 gallons."

Read the whole article here.

The Basic ABC's of Maple Sugaring

Barbara Mills Lassonde, publicist for the New Hampshire Maple Producers, has a nifty one-page description of how sap can be turned into sugar.