It's Maple Time!

We love winter at The Rocks Estate, but we’re also really excited to see the days growing longer, the sun making more regular appearances, and the sap buckets appearing on sugar maples around the property.

That’s right – its maple time! Maple sugaring season is always a favorite in this neck of the woods. Those buckets – and the more modern plastic tubing that reaches from tree to tree – are a sign that spring is on its way, and that our stores of maple syrup and sugar are about to be replenished!

A young guest helps tap a tree.

At The Rocks we love sharing the history, process, and pure deliciousness of maple season through our interactive New Hampshire Maple Experience. Visitors to the farm during maple season will hear about the long and intriguing history of this early spring ritual of the north woods, learn how to identify a sugar maple, and get a chance to tap a tree – the first step in collecting the sweet sap that is boiled down into maple syrup.

Other highlights of the Maple Experience include horse-drawn wagon rides through the estate and a visit to our working sugar house, where 4^th-generation sugar maker Brad Presby shares an insider’s knowledge of all things maple.

The Maple Experience culminates in a syrup tasting, complete with a fresh donut to savor the sweetness, and a tart pickle for contrast. That pairing is as much a rite of spring’s arrival as buckets hanging from trees and smoke rising from the sugar house.

The New Hampshire Maple Experience comes to The Rocks Estate this year on March 14, 21-22, 28-29, and April 4. For more information, please call us at (603) 444-6228, visit the Maple Experience website, or check our online events calendar. 

The first sugar makers: Discovering the history of maple syrup at the New Hampshire Maple Experience

Who were the first sugar makers? Long before European settlers arrived in New England, the native people of the region had discovered the sweet sap of the sugar maple trees growing here. There are various legends about how Native Americans discovered that the sap could be boiled into various forms of sugar.

These legends and the history and evolution of maple sugaring are just one part of the New Hampshire Maple Experience at The Rocks Estate, which takes visitors through tales and techniques of early sugar makers right through to tasting some fresh, sweet New Hampshire maple syrup!

The Maple Experience includes a trip to the Maple Museum, where visitors can see and touch some of the tools used through the centuries in the springtime ritual of sugar making. One of these is a long, hollowed-out log once used to cook the sap. Native Americans would pour the watery sap into the log and add hot stones from the fire to gradually cook the sap into a taffy-like maple sugar.

Hollowed-out log for cooking sap.

(See a video explanation of the early sugar making process here.) 

When the first settlers arrived, they observed the natives’ ways of maple sugaring and gradually added new tools and techniques to the process.

Today’s plastic tubing, reverse osmosis systems, and high tech evaporators are a far cry from the wooden spiles, hollow logs, and hot stones employed by the earliest sugar makers. But the end result is just as sweet!

This Saturday, April 5, is the final day of 2014 New Hampshire Maple Experience. We hope you’ll join us for hands-on learning and fun. To read more about the Maple Experience, visit our website. To make reservations for Saturday’s maple tours, please email info@therocks.org or call (603) 444-6228.

The New Hampshire Maple Experience museum: A journey through the history of sugaring

When did people first make maple syrup and sugar? How was the sap collected from sugar maple trees 300 years ago? What has changed in the modern era of sugaring?

Visitors to the New Hampshire Maple Experience will discover the answers to these intriguing questions – and many more! The long history of maple sugaring is on display in our interactive museum. Housed in one of the many historic buildings restored for modern use at The Rocks Estate, the museum offers visitors a centuries-long tour through the springtime tradition of sugaring.

(See a panoramic view of the inside of the museum here.)

In our museum, visitors will learn the legends of how the native people of the Northeast discovered the sweet sap of sugar maples and learned to cook that sap down to a syrupy sugar. They’ll see the evolution of sugaring as European settlers adopted and adapted the tradition. And they’ll discover how maple syrup is made today and see the process unfolding in the working sugar house adjacent to the museum.

While modern day sugaring involves the same basics of collecting sap and boiling it into syrup and sugar, the tools and equipment involved look considerably different now than they did when settlers first arrived. From wooden spiles and hollowed out logs, to metal taps and buckets, to plastic tubing, the evolution of sugaring is on display in our museum. 

Wooden spiles, metal taps, and plastic tubing on display.

One place this evolution is easily seen is in the type of taps – or spiles – and spouts used to extract sap from the trees. Early sugar makers used whittled wooden spiles and spouts to allow the sap to flow from the tree into buckets placed below. During the 19^th Century, sugar makers replaced the wooden spires with metal taps. These taps included hooks for hanging buckets to collect sap. In the mid-20^th Century, some sugar makers incorporated plastic taps and plastic tubing into their sugaring operations, allowing them to eliminate some of the tedious work of transporting sap from the tree to the sugar house via bucket and barrel. 

(Here's a video of the different taps and spiles used through the years.)

While many sugar makers continue to use traditional metal taps and buckets, blue lines of plastic tubing weaving through the forest are common in today’s sugar making operations.

When you visit the New Hampshire Maple Experience at The Rocks, you’ll experience first-hand the traditions and innovations of maple sugaring! Read more about the Maple Experience here.

Cooking with maple: It’s not just for pancakes!

Creating a maple delight.

We all know maple syrup is perfect poured over steaming pancakes at the breakfast table. But did you know maple syrup and maple sugar have been used for hundreds of years to sweeten everything from pancakes and breads to coffee and baked beans?

In fact, maple sugar was an important cooking staple for the first European settlers to New England and other northern regions of the United States. The settlers learned how to make maple syrup and sugar from the Native Americans, who had been doing their own form of sugaring for generations before the Europeans arrived.

The history of maple sugaring is shared during the New Hampshire Maple Experience…. AND local chefs reveal their secrets for getting creative with maple in modern day cooking, too! Each day of the Maple Experience, a chef will share cooking secrets and samples during live cooking demonstrations at The Rocks Estate. 

The chefs often invite guests to join in the cooking during the demos. Of course, samples of the finished product are also shared! In the past, our guest chefs have whipped up culinary delights like Whipped Maple Mascarpone and Maple-glazed Scallops with Maple Dijon Beurre Blanc. This season, we’re expecting Maple Teriyaki Marinade, Maple Balsamic Vinaigrette, and a Maple Crème Brûlée. Mmmm…!

You’ll find recipes from our guest chefs at the New Hampshire Maple Experience website. Long live maple, and Bon Appetit!