Vendor profile: Merton's Maple Syrup

We are happy to welcome Merton's Maple Syrup to the market this year. Located five miles from the village of Putney, Vermont, Tim Merton’s sugarhouse is 150 years old, and still producing great maple syrup!

Although there are many innovations in the sugarhouse Merton still boils with wood cut from the thinning of the sugar bush. This self-sustaining system has been practiced for several hundred years by New England sugar-makers although many these days use oil-fired evaporators.

The maple syrup produced on the farm is not certified organic, but is made without additives of any kind. The sap from the 4000 taps (holes drilled each spring in the trees) is boiled and filtered to make 100% pure syrup. The tapping of the maples begins in mid-February. As soon as the days warm up to 40 degrees and the nights freeze again the sap will run from the trees into holding tanks. Then the process of boiling begins that turns the sap into delicious maple syrup.

Grade A medium amber is slightly lighter in flavor and color and great for all around use. The darker and stronger flavored Grade A very dark syrups are produced towards the end of the sugaring season. Some people like the light and some the dark- it all depends on your taste!