Maple Sugarin' in Vermont: A Sweet History

by Betty Ann Lockhart

Overview

Come along for a trip through maple time in Vermont, from the 1600s to the mid-twentieth century. Betty Ann Lockhart introduces the origins of the "Flavor of Vermont," the tools of the sugaring trade and the personalities who launched maple sugar to world fame. The Abenakis were discoverers of the sweet sap that flowed from Vermont's trees, and Thomas Jefferson was an early promoter of it.
During the Civil War, maple sugar was cheered as the moral alternative to cane sugar—the latter having been produced by slave labor—and in subsequent wars, it was shipped to U.S. troops around the world. Enriched with maple-inspired songs, recipes and legends, Maple Sugarin' in Vermont illuminates not just the industry, but also the culture of maple sugar in the Green Mountain State.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781596294912
Publisher:	Arcadia Publishing SC
Publication date:	09/11/2008
Pages:	192
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.40(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

Betty Ann Lockhart is a founding member of the Vermont Maple History Committee of the Vermont Maple Industry Council; a member of the Center for Research on Vermont at the University of Vermont, the Vermont Maple Foundation, and the Vermont Sugarmakers Association; and on the Board of Trustees for the Vermont Maple Festival. Betty Ann has produced several videos on maple sugar and wrote The Vermont Maple Quality Control Manual with Packing and Pricing Guide for the Vermont Agency of Agriculture; and Celebrating Centuries of A Proud Tradition: Pure Vermont Maple - A Treatise of Facts, Folklore and Recipes from Vermont's Community of Sugarmakers for the Vermont Bicentennial.

Table of Contents

Foreword Roger Allbee 13 Acknowledgements 15 Introduction 17 Author's Note 21 Chapter 1 The Native Peoples of the Dawnland-the Abenaki 23 The Lands of the Vermont Abenaki Abenaki Maple Farmers The Legends of Woksis, Manabohozo and Gluskabe Scholars Argue: Did the Native Peoples Teach the European Newcomers, or Did the Europeans Teach the Native Peoples?
How the Native Peoples Made Use of the Sap of the Maple Tree Sugarin' Country-Where the Maple Moon Beams Chapter 2 Sugarin' in the Wilderness: Sweetness for the Early Settlers 43
"The Oldest Maple Orchard in the State"?
Wilderness Sugarmaking: How Would the Sias Family, the Kathan Family and Other Settlers to Vermont Make Maple Sugar?
Vermont Becomes a State in Sugaring Season Chapter 3 "T.J." and Vermont Maple 57 Remarks on the Manufacture of Maple Sugar Pursuing a Maple Sugar Dream Chapter 4 Flowing Toward the Birth of the Vermont Maple Industry 63 Vermont Geography Affects the Adoption of Sugaring Technology Observations Made in 1830 Sugaring Methods Change Chapter 5 Report of the First U.S. Commissioner of Agriculture: Reflecting on the 1700s and Peering into the 1800s 71 Chapter 6 "Eat Sugar Not Made By Slaves!" 89 Connecting Vermont Maple Sugarmakers with Antislavery Efforts The "Maple Sugar Bubble"
Chapter 7 Heading through the 1800s 95
"Maple Sweet"-The Vermont Sugarmakers' Song and Perrin Batchelder Fiske The Maple Scene in 1873 and E.A. Fiske Chapter 8 The Auspicious 1890s 103 The Sugar Bounty The Vermont Maple Sugarmakers' Association Chapter 9 Vermont Maple Sugarmakers and the Pure Food and Drug Act 111 Progressing Toward a Pure Food and Drug Act Vermont Senator Redfield Proctor and TeddyRoosevelt-the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906 Chapter 10 Big Business: The Making of a Maple Magnate-George C. Cary-and Afterwards 119 The Early Vermont Maple Packers, the Maple Sugarmakers' Market and More Chapter 11 How Do the Maple Trees Tick? Solvers of the Mysteries! 127 Professors W.W. Cooke and J.L. Hills Research in the Mountains-"C.H." Jones and Colleagues New Guys on the Maple Research Block-Drs. Marvin and Taylor and the Proctor Farm Chapter 12 Teaching and Learning-for Sugarmakers and Consumers 135 Chapter 13 Stories From the Heart of Maple Country 141
"Weather Holds a Variable Hand"
Bill Clark Builds a Sugarhouse Maple Sugar Sweetens Life Marjorie Palmer Learns to Sugar Mary Coombs Makes Candy Truman Young Chews Gum Helen Nearing Writes The Maple Sugar Book Chapter 14 The Move to Gain More Money from the Maple Crop 149 Making Much of Vermont Maple-Promoting the Green Mountain State's Signature Product
"The Vermont Special"-the Sugar Train The "Big E"
The Vermont Farm Bureau and the First Vermont Maple Festival Rolling out the Red Carpet-Vermont's First Specialty Product Chapter 15 Tools of the Trade 163 Bygone Tools from Yesteryear More Tools from Yesteryear-Still in Use Today!
Chapter 16 Old-Time Maple "Receipts" 173 Appendix Recommended Resources 179 Notes 181 Bibliography 187 About the Author 191

Editorial Reviews

If you vacationed in Vermont and returned without any maple sugar, you probably left behind something else in the hotel room, too. The state's perfect climate, high control standards, and long sugar trade traditions have made Vermont the country's largest producer of maple syrup and maple sugar products. Betty Ann Lockhart's Maple Sugarin' in Vermont turns a savory breakfast staple into a fascinating history of a local industry that became an international standard setter.