by katemccabe | Jul 13, 2022 | Beyond Maple
Anyone who is keen on learning about or collecting maple syrup antiques should check out Virginia Vidler’s authoritative book on the subject: Sugar-Bush Antiques. Published in 1979, the book is way out of print, and contains some out-of-date pricing information....
by katemccabe | Jun 28, 2022 | About Maple Syrup
Maple nerd alert! The USDA has released the 2022 maple syrup crop statistics and boy are they sweet. (Sorry.) What kind of a year was 2022 for professional sugarmakers? Where does your state rank in quantity of production? Read on to find out all about the 2022 maple...
by katemccabe | Jun 16, 2022 | DIY Maple Syrup
We’ve previously named fall as an ideal time to identify maples. That’s because distinctive fall foliage helps to distinguish between sugar maples and red maples, which are often confused for each other. As it happens, even more features distinguish sugar...
by katemccabe | Apr 27, 2022 | Maple and Backyard News
Spring has sprung for maple producers and backyard enthusiasts alike. Here’s the latest on all things maple and backyard news! Maple News Maple news reports from the biggest maple syrup producing states and provinces are arriving at a brisk pace and are almost...
by katemccabe | Apr 12, 2022 | Cooking with Maple
And here we are, just winding down our DIY maple syrup making year. We’re hearing from many corners of sugar country that it was a banner one! But if you’ve finally had your fill of sugar on snow and fresh maple syrup on pancakes and waffles, here are some...
by katemccabe | Mar 30, 2022 | Maple and Backyard News
In some backyards, maple syrup making season is just getting underway, while in others, it’s wrapping up and time to think about other backyard pursuits. Here’s what’s going on in maple and backyard news now! Maple News While sugaring season is at an...
by katemccabe | Mar 17, 2022 | Cooking with Maple
Maple recipes for high sugaring season feature quick fuel for DIY maple syrup making! Here’s how to make your maple and eat it too! Breakfast! The most important meal of any day, expecially a day spent making maple syrup. Waffles are excellent fuel for a day of...
by katemccabe | Mar 3, 2022 | Maple and Backyard News
We’re shoveling snow, sleeping, eating and shoveling more snow up here in Vermont. Here’s what’s on for maple and backyard news in other parts of sugar country. Maple News The world lost a beloved leader of indigenous rights earlier this year when...
by katemccabe | Feb 23, 2022 | DIY Maple Syrup
The sap is running and your buckets are filling up! Time for maple sap collection and storing your sap in preparation for your first boil. Tips and tricks on collecting and storing sap for the DIY maple syrup maker ahoy! The weather is just right – freezing nights and...
by katemccabe | Feb 16, 2022 | Cooking with Maple
It’s that time of year again! DIY maple syrup making season has begun in many places. But it’s not as if we stop eating maple just because we’re tapping trees! Here’s how people are making their maple and eating it too in 2022. Maple in season?...
by katemccabe | Jan 5, 2022 | Maple and Backyard News
A month’s worth of maple and backyard news, all packaged up for you! Maple News It’s that time of the year! Our maple news bags runneth over. Let’s dive in! You may recall that December’s maple news was dominated by Canada’s...
by katemccabe | Dec 16, 2021 | Cooking with Maple
A maple-flavored holiday starts with the good stuff: 100% pure maple syrup! Are you ready for a maple-flavored holiday? Us too! Here are the recipes people are using to incorporate nature’s sweetest treat into their end-of-year holiday traditions this year! A...
by katemccabe | Dec 1, 2021 | Maple and Backyard News
We’re foraging evergreens for seasonal decoration and working hard to fulfill holiday orders. What’s your maple and backyard news? Maple News The biggest maple news of the moment is this: there’s a maple syrup shortage. Did you know? Facing this...
by katemccabe | Nov 17, 2021 | Cooking with Maple
Maple Candied Pecans: Toast pecans in a cast iron pan over medium heat, stirring often, until frangrant and browning. While stirring rapidly, drizzle with maple syrup. Stir until all liquids have evaporated, take off the heat and continue stirring for one minute....
by katemccabe | Nov 4, 2021 | Maple and Backyard News
Wet maple leaves carpet the floor of the sugarwoods. Rainboot weather is afoot! What’s your maple and backyard news? Maple News It’s National Native American Heritage Month, and maple people everywhere are taking notice. An Ohio sugarmaker who turns...
by katemccabe | Oct 5, 2021 | Maple and Backyard News
An outbuilding. A retired boat or two. And maple trees just starting to turn in the distance. That’s what’s happening in this backyard! What’s your maple and backyard news? Maple News Is maple syrup more sustainable than cane sugar? Apparently! Will...
by katemccabe | Sep 22, 2021 | Cooking with Maple
The first day of fall means it’s time to make and can Maple Tomato Jam. Combine in stock pot 5 lb. finely chopped tomatoes, 2 1/2 C maple syrup, 1/2 C lime juice, 1 tbsp sea salt, 1 tbsp fresh grated ginger, 1 tbsp red chili flakes, 1 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 tsp...
by katemccabe | Sep 8, 2021 | Maple and Backyard News
The colors are slow to turn this year, but, soon, we’ll have a rainbow on the grass and in the trees! Maple News Fall approaches. And with it, at least this year, mapley happenings all across sugar country. Maple syrup workshops coming up in Kentucky, maple...
by katemccabe | Aug 25, 2021 | Cooking with Maple
Dill n’ Maple Fridge Pickles: Wash and slice cukes. Put the cucumbers, a dill flower, a peeled garlic clove and 2 tablespoons of maple sugar (or syrup) in a pint jar. Fill with white vinegar and refrigerate until snack time! This is not a drill. End-of-summer is...
by katemccabe | Aug 11, 2021 | Maple and Backyard News
A backyard is the greatest escape! Maple News August is traditionally a slow-news month for maple, and 2021 does not dissapoint. (Or rather, it does . . .) Quebec producers have announced that they are adding 7 million new taps next year instead of 3 million. And the...
by katemccabe | Aug 4, 2021 | About Maple Syrup, Beyond Maple, Our Company, Products and Customers
This antique evaporator door was made by a Vermont Evaporator Company that operated a century ago. A customer of this Vermont Evaporator Company found it in his sugar woods last spring! Have you encuntered the remains of a long-lost sugar camp or evaporator in your...
by katemccabe | Jul 28, 2021 | Cooking with Maple
Cooking with maple syrup using fresh seasonal vegetables and fruits is one of this summer’s culinary trends. Let’s make it last all day! The Spicy Maple Shrub: Simmer 1 cup apple cider vinegar, 1 cup of seasonal fruit, 1/3 cup of maple syrup, one cinnamon...
by katemccabe | Jul 13, 2021 | Maple and Backyard News
Maple News It’s the waning days of COVID (she types, hopefully) and the supply chain is a fright. Will there be a maple syrup shortage? Yikes! These people say “yes.” Quebec is certainly thinking ahead: the province plans to add 3 million more taps...
by katemccabe | Jun 28, 2021 | Cooking with Maple
House Maple BBQ Sauce: Mix two parts maple syrup, two parts ketchup and one part apple cider vinegar. Add Worcestershire sauce and cayenne or red pepper flakes to taste. Enjoy! Ahh, eating in the summer. It’s light. It’s fresh. And it can certainly be...
by katemccabe | Jun 14, 2021 | Maple and Backyard News
Maple News The numbers are in from the Northeast Region Maple Syrup Report, and national maple production in the United States was off 17% in 2021, and 21% off in Vermont, our top maple producing state (New York, Maine, Pennsylvania and New Hampshire ranked second...
by katemccabe | May 25, 2021 | Maple and Backyard News
Maple News Us: “Internet, are you hungry?” Internet: “I could eat!” Maple continues to feel the online recipe love this month. Ready to refresh your cooking? Check out these new ways to eat maple. In the morning, choose Citrus Cream Cheese...
by katemccabe | May 19, 2021 | Beyond Maple, DIY Maple Syrup
When you think of Philadelphia, you don’t think of maple syrup. Right? Cheese steaks and scrapple, sure! (Also, Rocky and the Liberty Bell.) But not maple. There’s now a chance that might change, thanks to the creative ingenuity of folks in...
by katemccabe | May 12, 2021 | Maple and Backyard News
Backyard sugar house in spring. Maple News It’s May. So as far as maple news goes, it’s mostly about slathering that fresh harvest on something and eating it! Start strong and sweet with Cornflake Crusted French Toast, Apple Pie French Toast, Campfire...
by katemccabe | Apr 28, 2021 | Maple and Backyard News
Spring rain brings red maple buds to the forest floor. Maple News The seasonal wrap ups are wrapping up for the year. Vermont sugarmakers report yielding only 40% to 70% of an average crop, and the story sounds much the same in Quebec, where, despite there being...
by katemccabe | Apr 14, 2021 | Maple and Backyard News
Wild leeks, also called ramps, just coming up at the base of a maple tree. When the ramps come, the sugaring season goes. We’re calling it: 2021 is the year of the DIY maple syrup maker! From Missouri to Prince Edward Island, from Minnesota (also here and here)...
by katemccabe | Mar 26, 2021 | Maple and Backyard News
Maple News Maple news is pouring in from all over maple country. Rhode Island (state tree: Sugar Maple) has seen its season come and go, as has Connecticut (where maple syrup is hailed as the state’s first agricultural product). The season was short and sweet,...
by katemccabe | Mar 11, 2021 | Maple and Backyard News
Maple News And, we’re cookin’! Maple syrup production is officially in full swing across the United States and Canada! In some places, producers report that the season started early this year, while in other places, folks say their areas got a late start....
by katemccabe | Feb 24, 2021 | Maple and Backyard News
Maple News At long last! Sugaring season opens across the country, and it’s a snowy one! The steam is rising from sugar houses in New Hampshire, the ceremonial first tree-tapping is scheduled in Wisconsin, and people are coming together from different walks of...
by katemccabe | Feb 11, 2021 | Maple and Backyard News
Maple News It’s getting to be that time of year! Time to learn how to make maple syrup (at least virtually), visit local sugar houses, and try a maple-flavored craft beer styled after Bernie Sanders’s now-iconic mitten-pose (“S’mitten...
by katemccabe | Jan 28, 2021 | Maple and Backyard News
Maple News It’s time to decide. Is maple sugaring the next new skill you’ll master during the pandemic? Maybe these mouth-watering maple recipes will push you over the edge! To start the day off right, Overnight French Toast with Orange Infused Syrup,...
by katemccabe | Jan 14, 2021 | Maple and Backyard News
Maple News It’s getting to be that time of year! And maple-flavored news does not disappoint. Another university starts a maple syrup program, and West Virginia Maple Days are set. If you own property in southern New Jersey, you may have an opportunity to help...
by katemccabe | Dec 30, 2020 | Maple and Backyard News
Maple News And time marches on. Here we are in the wee days of 2020 with maple still making the news: maple syrup recently appeared in the blockbuster video game Fortnight, as well as with its co-conspirator silly string in this police blotter. And, in Canada, where...
by katemccabe | Dec 17, 2020 | Maple and Backyard News
Maple News It’s holiday season! And, by that, we mean Happy National Maple Syrup Day, of course! As for all those other holidays, they sure seem to have one thing in common: epic maple recipes. Welcome, Yule! In addition to Vermont Centric Winter Cocktails,...
by katemccabe | Dec 6, 2020 | Maple and Backyard News
Maple News The holidays are abundant with opportunities to cook and bake with (and eat) maple! Here are our picks from the last few weeks: Maple, Browned Butter Apple Pie, Saturday Morning Challah French Toast, Tuscan Holiday Bread Pudding, Brown Sugar Maple Cookies,...
by katemccabe | Nov 20, 2020 | Maple and Backyard News
Maple News Here in Vermont, we use maple for everything, including emergency medicine, and, in the immortal words of SNL, here “you can put your weed” in maple too! Those are two topics that definitely won’t be discussed at the Vermont Maple Sugar...
by katemccabe | Nov 4, 2020 | Maple and Backyard News
Maple News This stick season, take a free online beginning maple sugaring class, pick up some maple cocktail syrups and bitters by Vermont’s own Runamok Maple, or try and parse Rob Gronkowski’s latest maple syrup sports analogy. What? And then...
by katemccabe | Oct 23, 2020 | Maple and Backyard News
Maple News A pile of leaves and a pile of news. New in the industry: “small-batch maple” is now officially a thing, a Quebec company gets global recognition for using maple technology to clean water, and a maple beer emerges with the best name ever: Sugar...
by katemccabe | Oct 7, 2020 | Maple and Backyard News
Maple News Time to open up another can of maple news! The maple industry continues to innovate and delight with travel-sized, TSA approved Maple to Go hitting the US market and Foray’s Cannabis-Infused Hard Maple Caramels arriving in Canada. Ohio, Virginia and...
by katemccabe | Sep 24, 2020 | Maple and Backyard News
Maple News A fresh stack of maple news is hot off the griddle! Vermont’s Maple 100 event is now underway with sweet things to do here, there and everywhere; from hikes to baking to a rousing game of maple bingo, for the true fan of maple, it’s not to be...
by katemccabe | Sep 11, 2020 | Maple and Backyard News
Maple News Maple events are back! Usually held in the spring, and cancelled along with all-that-was-normal in early 2020, maple associations across the United States have rallied to put on fall events this year. Events like Vermont’s “The Maple 100,”...
by katemccabe | Aug 26, 2020 | Maple and Backyard News
Maple News Pandemic or no pandemic, the maple industry is doing great. In fact, a new study calls for big maple to experience “stunning growth” in the coming years. In other industry news: you can now purchase maple syrup that glitters. An embarrassment of...
by katemccabe | Aug 13, 2020 | Maple and Backyard News
Maple News It’s as hot and sticky as a batch of maple syrup out there! Tired of binging on Netflix to beat the heat? Binge the Northeast Organic Farming Association (NOFA) Summer Conference, now available online, instead, including our 90 minute tree-to-table,...
by katemccabe | Jul 31, 2020 | Maple and Backyard News
Maple News It’s that time of the summer. It’s that time of the pandemic. It’s. All. About. Food. We don’t even feel the need to string these together with connective word-ingredients. Let it be like food poetry. Say these aloud with us, now:...
by katemccabe | Jul 15, 2020 | Maple and Backyard News
Maple News All roads lead to the pandemic, it seems. Even in maple, the news is just thick with it. Some of the news is bad: a Vermont maple producer, for example, has been forced to sell his operation because of the extended, COVID-related Canadian border closure....
by katemccabe | Jul 2, 2020 | Maple and Backyard News
Maple News Did you know that there are more than 100 maple species around the world, including a prairie-hearty variety, and a “bully”? Or that some folks have finally been able to eradicate the villainous Asian longhorned beetle? Neither did we! News from...
by katemccabe | Jun 18, 2020 | Maple and Backyard News
Maple News Vermont set maple production records in 2020, maintaining its status as the nation’s largest maple producer, while New Hampshire reported an average harvest. You may now find maple on the ingredient list of your pecan butter or beer, or mixed with...
by katemccabe | Jun 4, 2020 | Maple and Backyard News
Maple News The news over the last few weeks has been 99% bad. Take a break from it by catching up with what happened in the world of maple. While New York maple mourned the passing of a maple icon at the age of 105, Quebec set maple production records despite...
by katemccabe | Jun 2, 2020 | Our Company, Products and Customers
File under “Boring but Important” if you must, but here’s what we’re doing to keep ourselves – and you – safe! As businesses reopen around our state and yours, know that our level of commitment to doing things the safe, right and responsible way has never wavered....
by katemccabe | May 23, 2020 | Beyond Maple, Our Company, Products and Customers
This Memorial Day Weekend will find us in the garden and at the grill, as usual, but, after two months of family lockdown, we’re adding a new element to our traditional long-weekend staycation. A new firepit! A new firepit will provide a new focus for household fun...
by katemccabe | May 15, 2020 | Beyond Maple, Our Company, Products and Customers
How to make delicious, fresh, wood-fire bread on the Sapling Everything Grill! Perfection: King Arthur Flour’s No-Knead Crusty White Bread made wood-fired on the Sapling Everything Grill If there’s nothing quite like fresh-baked bread, there’s nothing at all like...
by katemccabe | May 5, 2020 | Beyond Maple, Cooking with Maple, Our Company, Products and Customers
DIY maple syrup season is over, but grilling season is here! Here’s how to grill and smoke on the Sapling Everything Grill! Maple Cured Bacon: Acquire pork belly (pictured: 8 lbs.). Cure in fridge for two weeks with 6 tablespoons sea salt, 1/3 cup maple syrup, and 1...
by katemccabe | Dec 31, 2019 | DIY Maple Syrup
If you’ve identified your maple trees, everything else you need to know in order to make maple syrup in your backyard is here in its shortest form. Sugaring season is drawing close. You want to start this year but you aren’t sure you have time to figure it...
by katemccabe | Dec 15, 2019 | About Maple Syrup
Books make great gifts for maple lovers of all ages! At gift-giving time, my coworker and sister-in-law Nikki has a mantra: “something they want, something they need, something to wear and something to read.” I like it. It offers a limiting principle for those who...
by katemccabe | Nov 28, 2019 | Our Company, Products and Customers
How Vermont Evaporator is kind, responsible and thankful in business. Hi. We’re Nikki and Kate. We manufacture and sell backyard maple syrup making equipment for regular people. We help families get into their woods and make something delicious together. We feel good...
by katemccabe | Nov 1, 2019 | About Maple Syrup, Our Company, Products and Customers
Join us in observing Native American Heritage Month this year by giving thanks for maple! Nikki Whelley, Vermont Evaporator COO, and Kate Whelley McCabe, Vermont Evaporator CEO, feeling thankful for this tall stack of pancakes covered with the maple syrup they made on...
by katemccabe | Jun 20, 2019 | About Maple Syrup
Oil had Rockefeller, steel had Carnegie, and F. Scott FitzGerald brought us the Great Gatsby. But Maple had a King! Have you ever wondered how maple got big? How it went from a subsistence crop to a farmer’s sideline, to a product that could mount a flavor challenge...
by katemccabe | Mar 20, 2019 | Our Company, Products and Customers
The Sapling Evaporator is engineered for maximum DIY maple-syrup efficiency! A while back, a prospective customer named Tom emailed me with the following question: “I love your maple syrup evaporators. But, without being a jerk, why should I spend that much on a...
by katemccabe | Dec 19, 2018 | Beyond Maple
‘Twas the Friday before Christmas and all through the shop, machinery was whirring, with a chug, clang, and pop! The product was nestled and shelved with great care, in the knowledge that new owners soon would be there. And this mamma-CEO, whose energy was sapped, had...
by katemccabe | Nov 13, 2018 | About Maple Syrup
The first chapter in the history of maple syrup is a uniquely Native North American one. First there were historic midterm elections, and then I turned 40. (Nope! Not unrelated! My mother and father voted on the way to the delivery room.) Then there was the one...
by katemccabe | Sep 28, 2018 | Our Company, Products and Customers
City folk want to know: who ARE these people who make their own maple syrup in their backyards? Well, for one thing, we’re people who live . . . here! There’s something we’ve been wondering lately from both personal and professional perspectives: Who ARE we backyard...
by katemccabe | Sep 5, 2018 | DIY Maple Syrup
Not to be confused with “sugar woods,” a.k.a. the “sugar bush,” or “sugar stand,” “sugar wood” refers to the fuel you need to power your wood-fired evaporator. It’s 90 degrees in New England, so, naturally, it’s time for us to put in supplies for next Spring’s...
by katemccabe | Jun 17, 2018 | Our Company, Products and Customers
Like great dads everywhere, ours are there when we need them, even if it means many hours of hard work designing and producing a brand new product for a brand new company. Justin’s father, Terry, taking a well-earned break from production to help the sales team at...
by katemccabe | Nov 13, 2017 | Our Company, Products and Customers
OK, you know now why a continuous-flow pan beats ye olde brew pot for making maple syrup in your backyard. But how exactly does one use the first-ever grill-top continuous-flow pan? It’s SO easy that assembly, setup and operation can be covered in 1,000 words or less!...
by katemccabe | Oct 26, 2017 | Our Company, Products and Customers
Seedling Urban Evaporator is a Continuous-Flow Pan and thus More Efficient than a Lobster Pot People responded so well to my last blog post that I decided to keep it technical this week. Let’s, as promised, talk about why a continuous-flow pan—like the Sapling...
by katemccabe | Sep 25, 2017 | Beyond Maple
OK. Enough bucolic wandering through the forest to identify the best trees for sugaring. Enough feel-good homemade maple syrup peaches. It’s Monday morning. Grab a cup of coffee. Let’s talk about climate change like we said we would. No, it’s OK! This is NOT going to...
by katemccabe | Sep 8, 2016 | Our Company, Products and Customers
The third Milk Money campaign giving Vermonters the opportunity to discover and invest in local businesses, is live! And boy is it Vermonty! When Kate and Justin McCabe moved their family to a house on 10 acres of trees – including maple – in Montpelier, they decided...
by katemccabe | Jul 22, 2016 | Beyond Maple
Now that the leaves are in for the summer, it’s a good time to think about which trees you’d like to tap for next spring. While we usually associate sugar making with the sugar maple exclusively, there are many trees that produce sap that can be boiled down to syrup,...
