A history of Vermont's maple sugar industry

by Vermont Maple Sugar Makers Association

THE EARLY HISTORY OF MAPLE SUGAR.

Vermont has an enviable world wide reputation for the production of two things: men and maple sugar. The noble record of the former as given to us in history and also records of the present day are known to all. But that the latter also has a history of much interest is little known.

Along with the maize and tobacco, maple sugar had its origin among the Indians. For time unknown before the white man came to this continent the aborigines drew the sap of the maple tree and distilled therefrom a sweet syrup. The various tribes of Canada, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Michigan all knew of this art. Where ever the white people came in contact with the Indians in a region where the maple tree grew they found them making this delicious sweet, and it was from them the white man learned the process.

The probable way in which the Indians discovered this art is contained in one of their Legends, as given by Rowland E. Robinson in the Atlantic Monthly:

“While Woksis, the mighty hunter was out one day in search of game, his diligent squaw Moqua busied herself embroidering him some moccasins. For the evening meal of her lord she boiled some moose meat in the sweet water from a maple tree just by the wigwam. Becoming interested in her work, she forgot the moose meat, and the sweet water boiled away to a thick brown syrup.”

“When Woksis returned he found such a dainty morsel ready for his supper, as he had never before tasted. The great chief eagerly devoured the viand, licked the kettle clean and then went out and told his tribe that Kose-Kus-beh, a heaven sent instructor, had taught Moqua how to make a delicious food by boiling the juice of the maple. And the discovery soon became known among all the Indians.” To get the sap the Indians with their tomahawks cut a long slanting gash in the tree, below the lower end of this gash a notch was cut to hold a chip along which the sap would flow. The sap was caught in birch bark dishes and boiled in earthen kettles. The small quantity of dark syrup thus produced was the Indians only supply of sugar. Imagine ourselves limited in this necessity of life to a little taste each spring, and we can think what a delicacy their maple sugar must have been to the Indian. We fondly anticipate the coming of this season of the year, either for pleasure or profit. How long these anticipations have existed in the hearts of men we know not, but we do know that long before the foot of white man touched the virgin soil of New England, long before the woodman’s axe echoed among our hills and valleys, the dusky race, who freely roamed the primeval forest gathered the maple sap in the primative way. It is not improbable that the young braves and dusky maidens of the tribe, had sugar parties, ate sugar upon snow and became sweet with each as do the boys and girls at sugar parties today.

THE PRIMATIVE METHOD, OF BOILING MAPLE SAP.

The first white people to make maple sugar were the Canadians. The manufacture of maple sugar in Vermont dates back to a very early day; the first settlers like their neighbors in Canada first learned the art of making it from the Indian, who they observed notching the trees in the springtime.

For a hundred years or more the methods of production remained without material change, save the substitution of iron or copper kettles for vessels of clay or bark, and the use of better utensils. The sugar was made merely for home use; cane sugar was a luxury and often unobtainable by the pioneer farmer at any cost.

The trees were tapped with axes in the Indian way, the sap caught in wooden troughs and gathered to some central place in buckets, carried on the shoulders with a sap yoke; and if the snow was deep, snow shoes were used to travel on; the boiling was done in large iron kettles swung upon a pole in the open woods in some hollow sheltered from the wind, with no protection from the sun, rain or snow, and the numerous impurities of charcoal, ashes and leaves.

Although this was greatly in advance of the primative methods of sugar making by the Indians, the product thus secured was dark in color, strong in flavor, not altogether the flavor of the maple, and quite variable in quality. This method with slight improvements and modifications was principally used in the state until within the past 50 years; since that time great improvements have been made. But the boys and girls of today can scarcely realize the conditions incident to the sugar season even 40 or 50 years ago, nor can they fully realize the pleasures which this season brought to the young people of those times, more especially the boys. In those days it was no small matter to get ready for sugaring. Each wooden hoop on the buckets must be tightened, with new hoops to replace the broken ones. It required several days to soak the buckets and make them hold the sap. The kettle, holders and buckets must then be taken to the sugar orchard.

The boiling place must be shovelled out, and perhaps new posts set for the lug pole on which to hang the kettles. Then the big back logs must be hauled and some wood cut to start the boiling. A few new sap spouts were needed each year, and these were made from green sumac trees of proper size, and whittled to fit the auger hole; the small pith being burned out with a redhot iron. With the inch or three-fourths inch auger, one man could tap about 50 trees in a day if he did not bore more than three inches deep, which was the rule. If a new sap yoke was needed, a small basswood tree of right size was cut, and the proper length for a yoke, halved, dug out to fit the neck and shoulders, and the ends shaved to right dimensions. To make “the yoke easy and the burden light” required a good fitting sap yoke.

Thus it will be seen that in the days gone by much work, and some ingenuity were needed to get ready for sugaring. In those days the sugar season called for hard work from the men and boys also who were always required to do their part in gathering the nearby sap and tending the fires. But there were two sources of intense enjoyment for the boys which largely compensated for the tired legs in carrying the sap, and burnt faces and hands in tending fires.

SUGAR HOUSE INTERIOR. BOILING SAP WITH PANS AND HEATER; NOW SLIGHTLY OUT OF DATE.

These were sugaring off times, one of which came any day towards night, when the sap was gathered in, and father gave permission to take some of the sweetest boiling from the big syrup kettle, and sugar off in the little four quart kettle, which mother would kindly let us take to the boiling place for that purpose. Some live coals were raked from the big fire and the little kettle with its precious sweet was placed thereon, and carefully watched until the sugar would blow through a twig loop or lay on snow. The sugar was very dark and often contained bits of charcoal that had fallen into the big kettles in boiling, but that did not matter; it was sweet and the feast always a delightful one. The other occasion was, in a measure, a sort of state performance and generally occurred at the close of a good run of sap, with fifteen or twenty buckets of syrup on hand. Early in the morning the biggest kettle was taken from the boiling place, carefully washed and set on three large stones. It was then filled about two-thirds full of syrup and a fire started. When milk warm, six or eight quarts of milk, with half a dozen well beaten eggs were added to the syrup to “cleanse it.” Just before boiling was the skimming time, when a pailful or more of dark thick scum would be taken from the top of the syrup. About noon the boys, and oftentimes the girls also would gather around the kettle to see it boil and taste the sweet as it slowly thickened to sugar; but not until about two o’clock in the afternoon would it be thick enough to lay on snow. In sugaring off with the little kettle we did not always have as much sugar as we wanted, but when the big kettle was on, we ate grained or waxed sugar, and hot sugar and doughnuts, until we wanted no more. Only those who have had these experiences can realize the intense enjoyments of the sugar seasons of the years gone by.

MODERN SAP EVAPORATOR IN OPERATION.

Within the past 40 or 50 years, great improvements have been made along the line of sugar implements; first the crude sugar shed was built and the kettles were incased in an arch; then came the large smooth bottom pans which were considered the height of perfection. But the ever restless Yankee was not content with this. First came the heater which heated the sap before it went into the pans; next the crude form of evaporator, with wooden sides and corrugations running across the pans but no opening beneath. Then the evaporator of the present day of which there are many kinds, all of which are good and capable of converting from twenty-five to a hundred gallons of sap into syrup in an hour; this will be explained later.

The bit of small size has taken the place of the axe, tapping iron and large auger. The tin bucket with covers have placed in the background the old troughs and wooden buckets. The team and lines of piping have lightened the burden of the man with a sap yoke and snow shoes, and instead of boiling out of doors or in the old shed a comfortable, convenient plank floor sugar house is now used. Thus we see the change which has taken place along the different lines of the industry. It has worked itself into a trade or science and men make a study of it. Therefore instead of the dark colored article containing numerous flavors, the present product with the modern methods is light in color, flavored only with the aroma of the maple, and the fine qualities possessed by this article has already won for itself a reputation far beyond the limits of our state. It has already passed the point of being considered a necessity and its use is now limited to those who can afford it as a luxury; even the poorest quality the price per pound will purchase several pounds of cane sugar for home use. Thus the poor farmer cannot use it except as a delicacy. The total product of maple sugar in the United States as stated in our census is about 50,000,000 pounds. Of this Vermont is credited with about one-fourth of the entire output. We do not wish to be misunderstood; all the pure maple sugar is not of this fine quality; only the best grade which is a small percent of the amount manufactured is entitled to the high prices received. The small quantity of the so-called first class goods have led the producers to grade their product, so that we have the first, second and third grades with prices to compare with the quality; the reason of these numerous grades are several. First, the chemical changes which take place with the sap being exposed to the weather, the advance of the season and last but not least, the many sugar makers who do not take the care they should and who do not have the suitable machines and utensils for making a No. 1 article.

MAPLE SUGAR CAMP EARLY IN THE SEASON; GROUND COVERED WITH SNOW.

The ever increasing demand for pure, genuine, first class maple goods at a high price as compared to other sugars has led to the making and placing upon the market numerous imitations of our maple product, in which the poorer grade of maple sugar is used as a flavoring. These goods often bear fraudulent labels in which it is represented that they were manufactured in Vermont, though with the exception of a few pounds used as flavoring, the stuff manufactured of glucose and other compounds, never saw a maple tree in Vermont or any other state.

This is the article placed upon the market in January and February, marked “Vermont New Maple Sugar”. You may ask, how may we get this best grade of maple sugar and be sure of its purity and quality. By corresponding with any member of the Vermont Maple Sugar Makers’ Association, whose names appear at the back of this booklet. Get your goods direct from the producers.