Attention Flatlanders: Please Leave Sugar on Snow to Vermonters

First, let me ask you, dear reader: do you "do" sugar-on-snow?  It's a Vermont tradtion.  Each year around early March when the days warm up and the nights are still cold, the maple trees do what maple trees do best.  They get sappy.  And I get sappy watching the ensuing sugar-on-snow parties that warm my heart , my cold hands, and have been delighting children and adults for hundreds of years.   

Maple producers statewide tap the first sap of the season.  In my small rural town, there are sugar shacks everywhere.  At last count, I think there were 11.  One really notices them in March when the steam billowing through their chimneys provides sharp contrast to the brightness of remaining winter snow against the backdrop of the still-stark Green Mountains.  It's a lovely time of year. 

Sugar houses often hold what is called a sugar-on-snow party.  The sap is heated and poured on snow outdoors.  This flash-cooling forces the sap into an amorphous blob of pure hard maple candy.  It is truly magical.

Now here's the caveat:  Flatlanders, please don't try sugar-on-snow at home. 

My dear friend, and old college roomie, Anne Witkavitch (shhhhh...I'm originally a Connecticut flatlander just like Anne, our little secret, my blog reader) called me a couple weeks ago with her hilarious tale of sugar-on-snow, Connecticut style.  We'll never know why this particular experiment was ill fated.  Did Anne Witkavitch use Aunt Jemima "syrup"?  Was the consistency too thin because she used a processed product?  Did she overheat the syrup in her microwave (yes, folks she used a microwave)? 

I have no idea, but if you'd like a good laugh, please read her rendition of sugar-on-snow, Connecticut style.  Real Vermonters (the ones who have been here for many generations) are sure to shake their heads in smug disbelief.  Not-quite-real Vermonters (like me) will spew diet Coke out their noses with laughter:  http://theeclecticwriter.typepad.com/the_eclectic_writer/2008/01/those-southern.html. 

All the shortbread chick has to say is this:  Come to Vermont this spring.  Have some real sugar-on-snow - there are plenty of sugar house tours you can do.  While you're at it, stop by at Beaudry's General Store right down the road apiece and try one of their great sandwiches, an Eddie's Energy Bar and some shortbread.  Tell them Anniezee, former flatlander, sent you.   

Comments

[Michael at Eddiesenergy.com]

Thanks for the mention! I miss the people at Beaudry's (and Vermont all together).

I loved this post, though. Ann's too. I had a god couple of chuckles while reading it.

Michael