Erin E. Moulton

Do you hear that? It’s a sound that ushers in spring, foretells life and calls weary hibernating New Englanders from their dens. It’s the sound of sap boiling. Or perhaps it’s the smell that arrives first. The ethereal scent of sugar rising from little shacks throughout the area, pulling us awake with the promise of harvest and flavors and upcoming warmth.

Whether you smell it first or hear it first, sugaring season is upon us.

In our house, we’re lucky enough to have a yearly delivery of maple syrup. Do I know what grade it is? No. Do I know what brand? Not at all. It arrives in the kitchen in recycled olive, tomato sauce and pickle jars, harvested and delivered by an old Vermonter, my father in law (AKA Richard AKA Pop-Pop). The only thing I can really tell you about it is that it’s delicious, it’s ample, it’s dark — we’re lucky to have it.

We had a few jars still put up from last year, so I’ve been testing recipes for the last month and a half in preparation for the glorious month of March. These recipes are inspired by two old New England cookbooks. One is Out of Vermont Kitchens which was compiled in 1939 by women in Rutland and Burlington, and the other is The New England Butt’ry Shelf Almanac by Mary Mason Campbell and Tasha Tudor published in the 70s. I say inspired by because I’ve made Nella Grimm Fox’s Maple Creams from Out of Vermont Kitchens and then never made them, effectively, again. I had a lovely summer-y Blueberry Topsy Turvy Cake from the Butt’ry Shelf Almanac, but I wanted a maple walnut one to celebrate spring. I decided to experiment, and as I did, many ideas and methods sprang from these pages.

Some recipes were a success. Others were downright failures. I made a curdled maple custard. It was not good. Actually, disgusting. I botched a batch of maple caramels. They were delicious, yet grainy. At some point, I accidentally undercooked some plain old maple syrup while trying to make hard candy, but salvaged it by stretching it into a taffy. It was divine, but I have no idea how I got there, so it’s not likely to happen again. As my experiments came to an end, maple, candies in a variety of forms–from clusters to sticks to squares– have been wrapped in parchment paper and tucked away in the fridge and the pantry, only to be swiped up by the next person who enters the kitchen looking for just a bite–and no more– of that divine maple flavor.

Here, I offer a few of the experiments that went well. My top three for maple month.

No-Churn Maple Ice Cream

This economical No-Churn Maple Ice Cream is fast and easy and uses only three ingredients and a little elbow grease. The results were lovely, though perhaps not as luxurious in texture as churned ice cream. It certainly was creamy, big on maple flavor and disappeared in short order.

Rough and Ready Maple Walnut Upside Down Cake

While not easy on the eyes, I keep picking at this upside down cake’s sticky sides. It’s as lovely warm as it is cold and divine with a hot coffee. It’s reminiscent of coffee cake but loaded with candied nuts. If you’re a fan of the maple walnut combination, this is a win!

Moulton’s Maple Honey Caramels

My arch nemesis, the maple caramels. I’ve failed at making these multiple times and only succeeded once before my most recent efforts–and ample research. Apparently maple confections have a way of getting gritty because maple syrup is mostly sucrose. In order for a creamy caramel to come to fruition, you need enough invert sugars (glucose and fructose). Enough. Huh. How much and how do I get them? A glucose meter could actually come in handy for measuring this, though I’ve read that they are notoriously bad at testing maple syrup due to consistency. Also, I don’t have a glucose meter, so I was left trying to bolster the invert sugars in other ways. After some trial and error, and more research, I made a couple of tweaks to the recipe and found success.

First, a good dark syrup, ideally from the end of the sugaring season, has more invert sugars than early and light syrups, so I went with the darkest in the pantry. I added cream of tartar, which acts as an acid and breaks some sucrose into fructose and glucose. Honey, typically, has a higher level of glucose and fructose as well, so I’ve added a little here so the entire solution is higher on invert sugars. These caramels are creamy, maple-y and very addictive. If you plan to try these, read the entire recipe before you begin as they can be very tricky and this can help you troubleshoot.

I hope these recipes inspire you to get out into the sugar shacks, this weekend, sample some maple products and maybe even make some of your own! If you’re local to me and looking for a sugar shack, I really enjoy Nature’s Sweet Secret in Goffstown, NH, but here is a great list from the NH Maple Producers Association that can help you find one near you.

These recipes were made from Vermont trees. If you’re looking for a few great Vermont sugar houses, well, I also love Hartshorn’s Farm in Waitsfield, Vermont and the Morse Farm Maple Sugarworks in Montpelier, Vermont.

If you try a recipe, I’d love to see the results. Tag me on instagram @erinemoulton #soulspunkitchen, leave a comment or reach out by email.

Now go forth and get a sugar high.

Do not eat too much. Maple rage is a real thing. Be careful out there.