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Best Maple Syrups | Find Out Which Five Won Our Hearts
After much taste testing, we finally found our favorite maple syrups. Find out which ones we thought were the five best maple syrups in the region. In March 2008, our panel sampled 19 bottles of maple syrup from all over New England. The names of the producers were hidden. We tend to think of Vermont when […]
By Annie Copps|Feb 21 2008|
Photo Credit:
After much taste testing, we finally found our favorite maple syrups. Find out which ones we thought were the five best maple syrups in the region.
In March 2008, our panel sampled 19 bottles of maple syrup from all over New England. The names of the producers were hidden. We tend to think of Vermont when we think of maple syrup and sugar shacks, but in the end, it was all New Hampshire producers who won our hearts and our tastebuds.
Photo Credit : Heath Robbins
FIRST PLACE
MONADNOCK SUGARHOUSE Jaffrey, 603-876-3626 “sweet, tasty, smooth” “lightly smoky”SECOND PLACE
WYCHWOOD FARM Andover, 603-496-2783 “earthy and very maple syrupy”THIRD PLACE
OLKKOLA FARM Ossipee, 603-539-3535 olkkolafarm.com “hearty, with notes of vanilla”FOURTH PLACE
FULLER’S SUGARHOUSE Lancaster, 603-788-2719 fullerssugarhouse.com “buttery, with a true maple flavor”FIFTH PLACE
THE MAPLE GUYS Lyndeborough, 603-487-3292, mapleguys.com “deep maple flavor — yum!” For more on maple syrup, check out these related posts: Best New England Maple Festivals and Events Six Maple Syrup Recipes Cooking with Maple Syrup
I love maple syrup. I would love to try your winners products, but I support our local maple producers here in The Berkshires–particularly Berkshire Harvest in Lanesboro, MA. (berkshireharvest.com). I am currently enjoying their grade A light amber–a half gallon jug. I love the decorative bottles they use. They also have expanded over the years and have a store stocked with some great items. The location is great also-at the base of Mount Greylock–the highest point in Massachusetts.
I am a fan of Parker’s Maple Barn in Mason, NH. It has the best dark amber around!
It would have been nice to know what grades of syrup were tasted. Surprising that not one VT one was selected!?!? Must not have had any true New Englanders on the panel! Seems the majority of people today prefer the darker grade B (table syrup), while the old time VT/NH/ME natives favor the best-of-the-best Grade A Light Fancy (As I do), which has a more delicate maple flavor, terrific over vanilla ice cream and with home-made (from scratch!!) pancakes, etc. Anyway, there truly isn’t any “bad” maple syrup, just subtleties to discover as folks educate their palate! Enjoy!
The panel (which did include some real New Englanders) sampled Grade B. And you are right – there truly isn’t any bad maple syrup!! I cannot believe I’ve gotten to April 3 without any sugar on snow.
I just bought a galloon from Putnams Sugar House.. i know it won’t last long! I use it as a base for a sauce for my bacon wrapped scallops..
Have you caused Wychwood Farm to evaporate? 648-6691 is a fax line and 648-6477 is out of service every time I call.
Why is New England Maple Syrup so so so very expensive – Even when my husband was alive 6 years ago and we toured Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, Massachusetts and Rhode Island every year – it was still too much to spend on a small jug???????
We searched for the best maple syrup for our website, RegionalBest.com, featuring regional foods produced by artisans and other small producers from across the country. Our favorite is from Vermont’s Green Mountain Sugar House. They offer four grades of syrup plus fabulous maple cream. You can check them out here: http://greenmountainsugarhouse.regionalbest.com/ or http://www.regionalbest.com
Try Dr Remick’s farm in Tamworth, NH. You won’regret it!
Have you tried Mt. Cabot Maple? Made north of the Granite Curtain, certified organic.
Lovely!!
Wynchwood Farm is having an open house on Saturday, from 9-5.
Yes, Wychwood Farm, in Andover, NH, is alive and well. We have a new sugarhouse and the sap is running! We will have an open house this Saturday from 9-5 with refreshments, gathering and boiling. Syrup, honey and lavender will be available. The public is most welcome! Our phone number is 603-496-2783. Fax: 603-648-6691
Where/What is the Granite Curtain? I live in the Seacoast area in Durham. I enjoyed reading the articles and the recipes.
We try to always support our local farmers in Granville, MA. Our maple syrup is always bought from Maple Corner Farm. Leon & Joyce are Granville natives
My favorite spot for over forty years is and always will be Gould’s Sugar House on the Mohawk Trail in Shelburne Falls, MA. Wether its Spring, Summer or Fall it’s a great place to visit and sample their product for a bite to eat for breakfast or lunch. I like the Amber Grade B the best. It has a great true flavor on pancakes but is best when used in baking, like when I make my Old Fashioned Vermont Apple Pies and my Sour Cream Pumpkin or Butternut Squash Pies. It’s also out of this world with some butter and a dash of nutmeg on mashed sweet potatoes or butternut squash too.
Do you guys ever visit Maine?
Wonderful “Yankee Classic” story by Edie Clark. Interesting to read about the harvesting of maple syrup. Thanks, Edie, for another great story.
The Granite Curtain is the Presidential Range which separates the northern reaches of New Hampshire from the south. No you won’t fall off the edge of the world when you pass the Mt. Washington Auto Road, but you do enter a different way of living.
This Californian (born&raised in MA) adores maple syrup and I’ve tasted it from all over. The absolute best came by chance, some years ago, when I stopped at a house by the road in Jeffersonville, VT. There Mrs Connie Edwards was selling some jugs of her son’s “Edwards Family Sugar House” maple syrup. She gave me directions to a local covered bridge her grandfather helped to build, and an old mill nearby. I left with a couple of jugs of their Grade-A Dark Amber. It’s incomparable, with a lurking almost-acidic tang that tempers the intense sweetness. The flavor is unique and marvelous. I’ve been back since and always carry away some for me and some for friends. I’ve never had anything like it. Their grove should be a national heritage.
I tried a maple syrup that was very dark and had an unusually undescribable flavoe . it was from the NW corner of connecticut which is located at the foothills of the bershires and Appalachains. It was from a very pituresque town know as Colebrook. I purchased several jugs and hope when i reture to replenish my supple. I live in NW Louisiana so I must make a stop there whenever i can which is not very often.
My favorite is Mom & Pop’s World’s Best VT Maple Syrup in Rochester. (It really does live up to its name.)
My boyfriend is addicted to “Mom’s” maple candy. 😉
http://www.momandpopsmaple.com
because it is hand made. and there is a lot of time that goes into making good maple syrup
Agree there are some subtleties between batches of plain maple syrup, that make them stand out in different ways, to different palates, but these findings are super subjective. A more informative analysis would compare syrups within the same grade, and from within the same harvest year, and probably within each region or state. And 16 bottles is hardly statistically significant. It would also be interesting to do a blind taste test between traditionally harvest syrup that is boiled over an open flame, and the mass produced, flash-cooked-with-steam (aka, ‘steam-crafted’) stuff.
I live in Texas, but sure did miss “real” Maple syrup. I have been buying from Fullers in NH for years… I especially loved it when they placed second in the country and advertised that they were the “Second Best” in the USA! Gotta love that. They are way more sophisticated now, but their dark amber remains awesome!