By Heather Matthews
Staff Writer

Maple syrup is produced through the process of reduction, or boiling. Maple sap is boiled at temperatures exceeding 219 degrees, allowing the water to evaporate from the sap, leaving only a sticky brown liquid, or syrup, behind. Sandy Coulumbe, an employee of Peterson Sugarhouse in Londonderry, said for every 40 gallons of sap boiled, just one gallon of syrup remains.

For six weeks each winter, Hank Peterson’s farm smells more like a pancake diner. The sweet scent of maple syrup permeates the air, greeting visitors as soon as they step foot on the land surrounding the small Londonderry sugarhouse.

Maple sugar season officially began in New Hampshire on March 6 when Gov. John Lynch tapped the first tree of the season at Benton’s Sugar Shack, in Thorton. For the next month-and-a-half, hundreds of people across the state will partake in the 300-year-old tradition of maple sugaring and syrup making.

While it is not certain who first discovered that clear sap from maple trees could be boiled to create a sweet syrup, there are many stories in sugaring lore, said Peterson, including one that said Native Americans discovered the process.

According to the Maple Producers Association, the legend said a Native American chief threw a weapon, and it stuck in a maple tree. The sap flowing from the tree was collected in a container on the ground. Because the liquid was clear and flavorless, the chief’s wife thought it was water and used it to cook venison. The chief’s wife found the meat, and the brown liquid that remained, was delicious and continued to use the sap drawn from maple trees to cook, eventually passing on the recipe, process and tradition to others.

Despite changes in technology, the process of refining sap into syrup has not changed much since that first batch of maple syrup was made, said Peterson.

“The sap’s no different,” said Peterson. “This is the same syrup (Native Americans) made.”

Making syrup begins when a maple tree is tapped, letting the sap run and collect in a bucket. The collected sap is then heated in an evaporator, essentially a huge shallow pan, to temperatures exceeding 219 degrees, allowing water to evaporate from the liquid and leaving behind only the sugar naturally found in maple trees, or maple syrup. For every 40 gallons of sap collected and reduced, just one gallon of pure syrup remains.

“It takes one hell of a lot of sap to make one bottle of syrup,” said Peterson.

Today there are more than 350 sugarhouses in New Hampshire belonging to the Maple Producers Association. Not all maple sugarers are part of the association, however, said Peterson. He estimates that there are about 550 sugarhouses throughout the state.

“Some people just (sugar) in their back yards,” said Peterson.

While the season is only about six weeks long, maple sugaring, said Peterson, brings in more than $3 million in revenue to the state each year, with more than 75,000 gallons of maple syrup produced each season statewide.

According to the Department of Agriculture, in 2005 New England produced 782,000 gallons of maple syrup. Vermont is the largest maple producing state in the U.S., producing 33 percent of the nation’s 1.24 million total gallons of syrup. Total taps in New England numbered 4.1 million, making up 58 percent of the nation’s total taps.

Peterson Sugarhouse will make nearly 125 gallons of syrup this season with the help of 700 taps, Peterson said.

“That’s a lot of waffles,” he said.

In Concord, Don Ross, of Rossview Farm, estimated his 900 taps would produce about 150 gallons of syrup.

For Ross, that’s a lot of chocolate chip pancakes.

“I’m not kidding. On a yearly basis, I eat chocolate chip pancakes and maple syrup every third day,” he said. “There’s nothing like the taste of fresh maple syrup. I could drink as much as I bottle.”

For both Peterson and Ross, following in the footsteps of the first maple producers is important, but even more important for them is the family tradition of maple sugaring.

Peterson’s father and grandfather produced maple sugar in Wisconsin during the family farm’s off-season. Ross said his father sold maple sugar through the family’s farm in Concord.

“I’m just doing what my dad did in the 1980s,” said Ross. “It’s just using the natural resources. It’s not the biggest moneymaker by any means, but it’s still a tradition. It’s still a labor of love.”

The freezing nights, and the warm temperatures of late winter and early spring days, provide the perfect weather conditions for maple sugaring, said Ross.

“All the maple sugar farmers are glued to the Weather Channel during the whole season,” he said.

While the unseasonably warm weather throughout January and February has many fearing a short maple sugar season, Ross said it wouldn’t cause any problems for the maple harvest. The weeks of warm weather were followed by some freezing nights, he said. Ross completed drilling and taping on March 6, and since then his two storage tanks have been overflowing. “Once the sap started running, it hasn’t stopped,” he said.

On March 25 and 26, the state will celebrate Maple Weekend. Open house and sugar house tours will be held throughout the state. Peterson’s Farm is located at 28 Peabody Row, Londonderry.

Rossview Farm is located at 85 District 5 Road, Concord.

For more information on Rossview Farm, call 228-4872. For more information on Peterson Sugar House, call 432-8427. For more information on the Maple Producer’s Association, visit www.nhmapleproducers.com.