At the end of every winter, little sugar shacks all over New England begin tapping their maple trees. Many of the shacks offer a tour of their facilities and a tasting of maple products. After sifting through hundreds of listings, we finally settled on Ben’s Sugar Shack in New Hampshire; and back in March, we finally got our maple sampling on!
The drive was an hour and a half, but it passed quickly, and it was well worth it. Usually, the transition between winter and spring can look a little dreary around New England, but New Hampshire was showing off for us in all its fading winter glory.
Jay and I were in such awe of the scenery – waterfalls, rivers, trees, and creeks – that we blindly followed “Tanya” (our GPS) into no-man’s land. It took us fifteen minutes, a quick Google Maps consult, and three U-turns before we arrived at Ben’s.
Instantly upon entering the shack, we were enveloped, like a warm hug, by the heavenly scent of maple. I imagine this is what heaven would smell like. Before I could get distracted by all of the pre-packaged (on site) maple goodies, we were whisked away to the backroom where all of the magic happens.
As I mentioned, all of the maple products (syrup, candy, cream, etc.) are packaged in-house despite the volume of orders they receive. There’s a small area in the backroom where all of the molding, dipping, drying, and packaging (and I’m sure a lot of tasting) is done (mostly) by hand. The care shows through in the products; it’s amazing.
Next up on the tour: sampling. Let’s be real, it’s what we really came for. There’s no tour that would be complete without it.
By the end of the tour, they had us eating out of the palm of their hands and we couldn’t resist the gift shop. We snagged a few bottles of maple syrup as gifts for our parents, maple cream (an absolute must), maple spice (for baking), and a waffle cookie (that never made it back to Boston).
That concludes our maple sugaring adventure! If you ever find yourself in the Temple, New Hampshire area, stop by Ben’s! You’re welcome. (No, I wasn’t paid to write that – but Ben’s Sugar Shack, if you’re reading, I’d gladly accept a waffle cookie as payment. #noshame)
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