Maple Syrup "Tasting"

After a night at Quechee State Park, we headed for Sugarbush Farms to learn about maple syrup and Vermont cheese. I had never before thought of a maple syrup "tasting," but we had one that day. There are four grades of maple syrup – "A Fancy," "A," "A Dark Amber," and "B," but these are not related to quality, rather to color and taste characteristics.

The "A Fancy" is light in color and delicate in taste, the "A" slight less of each, the "A Dark Amber" still less of each, in fact decidedly dark, and the "B" nearly a molasses.

It was interesting – in the group of four in our tasting, there were three different "best" grades – including one person for the "B" as being the most tasty.

For those as uninformed as we were, the grades depend on when the sap runs, which in turn is determined by where in the tree the sap had been stored before being tapped.

We also did a cheese tasting (the same four) tasting both as to longer aging time (hence sharper flavor) and additives – horseradish, garlic, sage, etc.

We did stop in the village of Woodstock, which has a storied history and a quintessential "Village Green."

After this, we moved on down the road to an orchard and farm store where we found a variety of apples we had never heard of before – Macoun – which turns out to be incredibly crisp and tasty.

Oh, and I almost forgot to mention, we did have to stop to view the Quechee Gorge which was described as "Vermont's Little Grand Canyon." Well, let me tell you, at 165 feet deep versus the more than five THOUSAND feet deep of the "Real Grand Canyon," it should be described as "Vermont's Puny Teeny-Weeny, Virtually Un-noticeable Grand Canyon."