Appreciating all that makes America special

Food: Vermont Maple Syrup

It takes 40 gallons of sap from the maple tree to make one gallon of syrup. Even so, Vermont produces 920,000 gallons of the yummy stuff each year. Photo by Stephen Hamilton, uploaded by foodporndaily.com.

It’s a Saturday morning, and you’ve awakened with visions of pancakes in your head. Doesn’t take that long to prepare the batter, doesn’t take long to cook, and then comes the best part – butter and syrup. That’s right, I said butter. Your body can take one pat of butter a week, you won’t die. The national brands are fine, but nothing beats the taste and richness of pure Vermont maple syrup.

Uploaded by igourmet.com.

Syrup is produced in other places in the USA and in Canada, but there’s something about the climate in Vermont that has made its product the golden standard. First, the maple trees are there. Seems silly, but it takes 30-50 years for a tree to grow the height necessary to produce enough sap. Then, it takes about 40 gallons of sap to produce one gallon of syrup. Makes you appreciate those pancakes more now, doesn’t it?

Even so, Vermont produces 920,000 gallons of the stuff a year – more than twice as much as the next largest state (Maine). So enjoy your syrup, enjoy your pancakes, and give a mental tip of the hat to the farmers up in Vermont. They’ve certainly earned it.

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