New Hampshire Maple Weekend and sugar shacks: a guide to sugaring season

Sugaring season is New Hampshire's first food season of the year, a stretch in late winter when the days warm, the nights freeze and maple sap runs. Producers boil it down in sugarhouses, and many open their doors to visitors for tastings, pancakes and a look at the evaporator. Visit a sugarhouse on a cold, clear March day, taste the syrup and eat the pancakes.

When is sugaring season in New Hampshire?

The season generally runs from late February into April, depending on the weather. Sap runs best when nights fall into the 20s Fahrenheit and days rise into the 40s, which causes the trees to pressure and release sap. A warm spell can end the season early, and a cold one can delay it. Sugarhouses boil on the days the sap runs, so a visit on a cold, clear day after a freeze is most likely to catch a boil. Some producers spread open houses across the whole month, sometimes promoted as Maple Month.

What is Maple Weekend?

Maple Weekend is an annual event run by the New Hampshire Maple Producers Association, in which sugarhouses around the state open to the public on the same Saturday and Sunday. It falls on a weekend in March, and each sugarhouse sets its own hours, typically from the morning into the afternoon. The association's website lists the sugarhouses that take part.

What happens at a sugarhouse?

You walk in to a warm room, steam rising from a long pan called an evaporator. Staff explain how sap, which is about 2 percent sugar, is boiled until it becomes syrup, and that it takes roughly 40 gallons of sap to make 1 gallon of syrup. You can taste syrup, watch it drawn off, and often buy syrup, candy, cream and sugar. Many sugarhouses serve pancakes or sell maple treats. Some farms add hayrides, animals or a sugar-on-snow demonstration, in which hot syrup is poured onto packed snow to make a chewy candy.

Where can you eat a sugarhouse breakfast?

Pancake breakfasts are a New England tradition. Some producers serve pancakes, waffles, sausage and syrup in the sugarhouse or a dining hall, and others sell a sample. Some farms run special events on Maple Weekend. Not every sugarhouse serves meals, and those that do may require advance notice or have limited seating, so check before you go. Local restaurants also feature maple dishes in March, such as maple-glazed salmon, maple baked beans and maple desserts.

What are the syrup grades?

Maple syrup in the United States is Grade A, divided by color and flavor into four types: golden with a delicate taste, amber with a rich taste, dark with a robust taste, and very dark with a strong taste. The lighter syrups come earlier in the season and the darker ones later. Golden suits pancakes and ice cream; very dark suits cooking and baking. Ask a producer for a tasting of two grades side by side.

What else is made from maple?

Besides syrup, producers make maple cream (a spreadable, smooth butter), maple sugar, maple candy, maple mustard and maple-coated nuts. Maple cotton candy and maple creemees (soft-serve) are seasonal treats at some farms. Maple makes a good gift, and syrup keeps well if refrigerated after opening.

How do you plan a visit?

A sugarhouse is a working building, not a restaurant, so treat it as a farm visit. The best sugarhouses to visit are those that tell you what they are doing: a producer who explains the evaporator, lets you smell the steam and offers tastes of syrup at different stages leaves you with a better understanding of what you are buying. Ask how many taps they run, whether they use buckets or tubing, and when the season started this year. Most producers are glad to talk, and a question is the best way to learn why one syrup tastes different from another.

Choose two or three sugarhouses within a short drive, check their hours, and plan a pancake meal somewhere between them. Wear boots, because March paths are muddy or snowy. Bring cash, since small producers sometimes prefer it. Go early on Saturday for fewer crowds. If you have children, check that the sugarhouse is stroller-friendly and has restrooms. Parking is often in a field.

Is it good for dietary needs?

Pure maple syrup is naturally gluten-free and vegan, but pancakes, sausage and baked goods may not be. Ask about ingredients if you have an allergy. Sugarhouse kitchens can be small and shared.

What does it cost?

Tastings are often free, and pancake breakfasts are priced per plate. New Hampshire has no general sales tax, but the meals tax of 8.5 percent applies to prepared meals at restaurants, and farm sales of prepared food may be subject to it. Syrup and other retail goods are not taxed.

How do you remember which sugarhouse made the syrup you loved?

Maple syrup tastes different from one sugarhouse to the next, and the difference fades from memory by the time you are home. In the Mosey app, rate the pancakes or the maple treat by the dish, add a tag such as Must-Try or Hidden Gem, and keep the sugarhouses you liked in a list for next March. Share it with the family that came along, and they can add the cream or the candy they prefer. Mosey runs seasonal food votes too, and maple season is a good time to rate.

Rate your first sugarhouse pancakes in the Mosey app and keep the list for next spring.

More guides to read next:

• New Hampshire Lakes Region and White Mountains: where and when to eat
• New Hampshire Seacoast seafood: lobster rolls and clam shacks guide
• New Hampshire farmers markets: summer and winter guide

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