“Life is sweet when you’re addicted to the sap.”
—Craig McInnis, the Ottawa Citizen

A few days ago when my dog, Liam, and I were out for an afternoon walk, I noticed something in the woods that made me positively dizzy with excitement—a maze of long blue tubing stretched from tree to tree. No, we don’t have an entrepreneur making moonshine in central Maine. The blue tubing I saw can only mean one thing—the sap has started to run in the maple trees, and from sap comes maple syrup, “golden delight.” As far as I’m concerned, the South can keep its whiskey. Without even a moment’s hesitation, I’d take maple syrup over whiskey. Anytime.

Most Mainers are crazy about real maple syrup, and even though I am a frugal cook, maple syrup is one area where I don’t economize. I just can’t make do with the imitation stuff. No Mrs. Butterworth’s in our house, thank you very much. According to MELiving.com, “In Québec, cheap imitation maple syrup is called ‘sirop de poteau’ or ‘pole syrup,’ suggesting that it was made by tapping telephone poles.” My sentiments exactly.

In southern and central Maine, the sugaring season begins in late February or early March, when the days are warm and the nights are cold. This means that there’s a very small window of opportunity for collecting the sap, which is then boiled down to make syrup. (Depending on sugar content, it takes roughly forty gallons of sap to make one gallon of syrup.) Pat Jillson, of Jillson’s Farm and Sugarhouse in Sabattus, Maine, told me that sometimes, if the weather cooperates, they can get six weeks of good sap weather. Last year, the season was short. It started the beginning of March, and it was done by the beginning of April.

Who knows how long the season will be this year? But I am ready, poised on the brink of this sweet season. I don’t tap trees, but Jillson’s Farm and Sugarhouse is not far from where I live, and during the month of March, they feature maple breakfasts. My husband, Clif, and I will be there at least once. We might go back a second time. We’ll buy maple syrup. Will we give in to the temptation of maple-cream donuts? I expect we will. Ditto for maple-flavored kettle corn. We’ll tour the sugarhouse, where we can watch the alchemy of sap being turned to syrup.

My mouth is already watering. Stay tuned.