Sugaring Off - The Old Fashioned Way

Uncle Harry ladles the syrup

NH Secrets Shortcast

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Remembering Uncle Harry Shortcast 01 Final by NH Secrets, Legends & Lore Shortcasts

"Uncle" Harry Uhlman's Sugaring Off Parties

by Wayne D. King

I remember as if it were yesterday, though at least 45 years have passed. Warm spring Sundays, filled with the hope that spring always brings. Sun shining on my face as I left church and greeted Uncle Harry at the door.

Uncle Harry was a deacon in our church and he wasn't my uncle - he was everyone's uncle. His kindly face, worn with the seasons of a Yankee native's life, would beam as he leaned down to remind me of the sugaring off party at his sugarhouse that afternoon and called me "dear" in that rich North Country accent that resonates still in my brain. Read the full piece here.


HOW MAPLE SYRUP IS MADE

Pure maple syrup is made by boiling down the slightly sweet sap of the sugar maple tree. In late February or early March, syrup producers (called sugarmakers) prepare for their annual harvest of the maple sap. The sugarmaker prepares his sugarbush (maple orchard) by clearing access roads in the snow, removing fallen branches, and setting up his buckets or sap tubing systems. Whether they use tubing or buckets, commercial sugarmakers must be sure that all their sap gathering, collecting, evaporating and bottling equipment is absolutely clean and in good condition before the beginning of the season. You could do it in your backyard without the careful preparation, but those who provide it for our tables must meet very strict codes created by the United States Department of Agriculture.

Memories of Sugaring

A sugarmaker must be completely in tune with his/her environment because there is no set time at which sugaring begins.. The sugarmaker must be aware of the clues of nature to tell him or her when the time is right: Days become warmer, the streams run with melting snow, icicles drip faster, the birds announce the not-too-distant arrival of spring. This is the time known as "sugar weather," . Nights fall below freezing but the days are mild. These conditions make the sap flow. More