Graham, Tom and I ventured off to the middle of NOWHERE (where we got our Christmas Tree this year), to go to a Sugar bush and have pancakes and REAL maple syrup, along with a tour of the farm. I remember doing this as a kid, but hadn't done it since then. As soon as I suggested to Tom a list of activities for when he was here, one involving going to taste REAL maple syrup right from the farm it's made, I got email responses with many quotes from the famous episode of Friends. You know, the one where Ross eats too much "maple candy" and hears a buzzing! HILARIOUS! Tom and I get on so well, and as soon as he quoted Friends and that episode in an email to me, I knew we had to go.
We got to Horton Tree Farm this morning and it had just downpoured! It was muddy, wet and cold, perfect if you are going to taste sap and watch it boil down into delicious, sticky syrup. We arrived at lunch, had the best pancakes I have ever eaten (sorry Dad- and I HATE pancakes anyway, usually), with hot melted butter and HOT maple syrup. We were the only ones there, so we had run of the mill and as today was the last day for tapping, we were spoiled with discounted maple ANYTHING and large quantities of it!!!!!!!!!!!!! If anyone wants pancakes or waffles with maple syrup, we now have a 2 litre jug!
We all thoroughly enjoyed ourselves, stocked up on pancakes, maple candy, maple butter, maple syrup and as we were the only ones there and it was the end of season, he let us stick our hands in FRESHLY boiled down maple syrup, which was like heaven! If you have never had the chance to do this, it was amazing and so fresh and woody!
2 comments:
When younger, living in Brunner, I hired myself out to the local Mennonite farmers. One of them had a sugar bush. I got to drive the HUGE Clydesdale horses attached to a sledge with a tank on it. We would take the team thru the bush and collect all the maple water from the pails and take it to the 'Sugar Shack' to be boiled down. Oh, the fragrance of the steam and the wood smoke! Nothing tastes better than fresh Maple Syrup pored over cups of the local snow! Such fond, life-long memories made. Cheers, Richard
Now that sounds DELICIOUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We loved touring the farm and the gentlemen boiling the syrup as we arrived was so passionate! He stoked the fire after boiling down the sap and we sat there and watched, getting filled with steamy smells! I am going to have to try a maple syrup "snow cone" one day!
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