Maple Syrup | In Season

It’s impossible to oversell the importance of maple season to New Englanders, and not just the farmers who make (or subsidize) a living from their acres of sugarbush. Even for the rest of us, those initial trickles of amber syrup represent the first meaningful sign of spring. The sight of a sugar shack billowing clouds of steam into the sky is enough to revive the most winter-weary soul.

The sugaring cycle begins when the thermostat begins to reach about 40 degrees in the day and dip below freezing at night. This freeze/thaw/freeze cycle causes that watery sap inside the maple tree to flow—an arboreal circulatory system, ready for duty. When a hole is bored into the bark, the sap runs out. Then it’s a matter of running the watery liquid, usually through plastic tubing, to central collection tanks for the next phase of production.

At its core, the process is simple: removing water from the sap via evaporation (or, in more modern operations, reverse osmosis, which can remove 70 percent of the water before the sap ever hits the boiler), then caramelizing the sugars over heat. This takes time, which is why patience is one of the great virtues of sugaring. That, and a good recipe for Crock-pot beans.

	Maple-Pecan Oat Pancakes These Maple-Pecan Oat Pancakes, made with oats and buttermilk, are surprisingly light. The maple syrup and pecans add an amazing nutty sweetness.
	Whole-Wheat Maple-Cranberry Scones Maple syrup adds sweetness, cranberries bring welcome tartness, and whole-wheat flour lends a nutty flavor and a pleasing heartiness to these maple-cranberry scones.
	Coleslaw with Maple-Cider Dressing Maple syrup gives this easy tangy coleslaw recipe a slightly sweet lift.
	Maple-and-Rum-Glazed Pork Roast We love how the rum-spiked sauce in this dish cooks down to a silky glaze, scented with maple, mustard, and cinnamon. It’s a wonderfully simple pork roast to make—easy enough for every day, but special enough for company.
	Slow-Cooker Maple Baked Beans This recipe originally ran as “Bertha Robb’s Home Baked Beans” in the March 1981 issue. We’ve adapted it for the slow cooker.
	French Toast Bread Pudding with Maple-Toffee Sauce Maple adds a wonderful dimension to this already-delicious French-Toast Bread Pudding, made even richer by the addictive toffee sauce.
	Maple-Walnut Layer Cake This towering cake is a real old-fashioned treat, as delicious as it is charming. Sour cream and toasted walnuts give it a rich, nutty flavor; the maple syrup gives it a warm, sweet finish.
	Maple-Walnut Ice Cream Living outside New England or can’t get to your favorite ice cream stand? Here’s how to make maple-walnut ice cream, following our homemade maple-walnut ice cream recipe.
	Chewy Maple-Nut Bars The combination of sweet brown sugar, crunchy pecans, and pure maple syrup in these chewy maple nut bars is tough to beat. Pecan pie lovers in particular will go nuts for these maple-nut bars—the handheld variation of the popular dessert.

As Yankee’s senior food editor, Amy Traverso oversees the magazine’s food department and contributes to NewEngland.com. Amy’s book, The Apple Lover’s Cookbook (W.W. Norton), won an International Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP) cookbook award in the “American” category.