Product Description

Sugaring is the act of collecting maple sap to make maple syrup, an early-spring endeavor that takes place all around the country - in Vermont, most famously, but also throughout New England, as far south as Ohio, and as far west as Minnesota. It is a time-honored tradition that has changed little since the Native Americans sugared centuries ago. Sugartime is a beautifully rendered narrative about the act of sugaring, a soulful activity that, like the best of outdoor hobbies, slows time down. Interspersed with the book's lyrical account of a season in the sugarbush are separate sections that serve as a primer to guide the beginner through every stage of surgaring, from selecting trees and hanging sap buckets to finishing off maple syrup. For anyone with an interest in taking up sugaring, everyone who has a maple tree, and all those with a nostalgia for the rural landscape Sugartime will be a joy to discover. (43/4 X 73/4, 148 pages, b&w photos, illustrations)

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1182308 in Books
• Published on: 1997-10-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 148 pages

Amazon.com Review
Sugartime is not only a how-to but also history and health and happiness in nature. Of the task of making syrup, the foreword explains, "I had stumbled upon good work, the kind that slows time and deepens the spirit." With instructions that go "from tree to table," Susan Carol Hauser describes the process and the pleasures of sugaring, from the early Ojibwa sugar camps, to the depiction of the hardening of sweet syrup in Laura Ingalls Wilder's "Sugar-on-Snow," to the 20th-century return to this ancient harvesting. Various gathering techniques and several recipes for maple syrup and other uses of the sugar are illustrated in this charming book.

From the Back Cover
Sugaring is the act of collecting maple sap to make maple syrup, an early-spring endeavor that takes place all around the country - in Vermont, most famously, but also throughout New England, as far south as Ohio, and as far west as Minnesota. It is a time-honored tradition that has changed little since the Native Americans sugared centuries ago.
SUGARTIME is a beautifully rendered narrative about the act of sugaring, a soulful activity that, like the best of outdoor hobbies, slows time down. Interspersed with the book's lyrical account of a season in the sugarbush are separate sections that serve as a primer to guide the beginner through every stage of surgaring, from selecting trees and hanging sap buckets to finishing off maple syrup.
For anyone with an interest in taking up sugaring, everyone who has a maple tree, and all those with a nostalgia for the rural landscape, SUGARTIME will be a joy to discover. (43/4 X 73/4, 148 pages, b&w photos, illustrations)

Customer Reviews

Sugartime -- Easy-to-read introduction to maple sugaring
Sugartime: The Hidden Pleasures of Making Maple Syrup with a primer for the Novice Sugarer by Susan Carol Hauser is written in such a way that as the author describes her personal account with sugaring, it is easy for the reader to absorb practical knowledge. I was able to acquire some insight into the process of sugaring, even though I have never done it before. This book is inspirational for those who feel a nostalgia for the country, practical for those who would like to learn more about amateur sugaring. This is not a comprehensive or technical work, but, rather is an interesting introduction to maple sugaring. The book includes some recipes and nostalgic pictures.

Impressive
Sugartime combines the romance and poetry of this outdoor activity with incerted sections that answer basic questions for the novice.

The author tells the story of how she (and her husband?) have been drawing and boiling down maple syrup from their 22 trees in the back yard over the past 20+? years.

This book answered most of my basic questions about sugaring, but some more questions were raised as I finished the book.

Overall it has been very helpful in getting started.

beautiful book-incorrect instructions! don't ruin your syrup!
In this beautifully narrated book on sugaring, the author is poetic, and in touch with nature. This book is descriptive, and enjoyable to read. There is a primer/instructional in the book, however, and they suggest heating maple syrup to 248 degrees! I wasted two large batches of sap following these instructions. When I did an internet search to find out what the actual correct temperature should be, it consistently said, 7 degrees above your boiling temperature. And although that may vary by a few degrees, 248 is way off from 219, which is the correct temperature to make syrup. 212 is the temp at which water boils, 7 degrees up from that-219! What a huge difference! We ended up making candy, not syrup!