Sweet Spring : It’s March; Is Your Sap Running?

If you want to eat at Davenport’s restaurant, timing is everything. It’s open only six weeks a year during March and April and only on weekends from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. That may sound like an odd way to run a restaurant, but it’s not.

Davenport’s is a maple farm restaurant, and it’s open, appropriately, only during sugaring season. And tourists love it.

Over the years, people have come from 47 countries to Russ and Martha Davenport’s 400-acre dairy and maple farm nestled on Mt. Massaemet in northwestern Massachusetts near the Vermont line.

For longtime maple-syrup producers, sugaring season--currently in full force here--is a welcome harbinger of spring.

“Warm days and nights that freeze” have been magic words for the Davenports since 1913, when Davenport’s Grandpa Walter started sugaring with wooden buckets and horse-drawn wagons.

Technology changed that when tubing came along. Here on the Davenports’ land, most of the collecting pails have been replaced by a system of plastic tubes.

The process is almost like reverse irrigation: Pipelines carry the sap from the trees to a central tank. Pure maple syrup as we know it is basically boiled-down, filtered sap. That is done in the sugarhouse, and it is quite a steamy affair.

“When people want to know why it costs so much, I say, ‘Come and work a day,’ ” says Martha Davenport as she gives a visitor a tour of the farm, restaurant and store. A good season will produce 1,500 gallons of syrup, she says.

The United States produced 1.1 million gallons of maple syrup last year. And industrywide, exports are up, says Tom McCrumm, coordinator of the Massachusetts Maple Producers Assn.

“The overseas market has really broadened in the past few years,” he says, mentioning Israel, Japan, Germany, Indonesia and Iceland.

Beyond syrup, maple-sugar producers like the Davenports have branched into other products, including granulated maple syrup (maple sugar), maple cream and maple candy.

Martha Davenport has been cooking and compiling maple syrup recipes for more than 20 years. They are enjoyed not only in the restaurant but also by her five children and 14 grandchildren in their own homes.

Following are recipes adapted from her booklet, “Massachusetts Favorite Maple Syrup Recipes,” available for $4.25. To order, call (413) 625-2866.

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MAPLE SALAD DRESSING

1 teaspoon flour

1/4 cup lemon juice

1/2 cup maple syrup

1 cup whipping cream

Mix flour with lemon juice. Stir mixture into syrup. Cook in saucepan over low heat, stirring, until thick. Chill. Whip cream and fold into cold mixture. Serve on fruit salad.

Makes 1 1/2 cups.

Each 1-tablespoon serving contains about:

52 calories; 4 mg sodium; 14 mg cholesterol; 4 grams fat; 5 grams carbohydrates; 0 protein; 0 fiber.

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MAPLED PORK CHOPS

1/4 cup chopped onion

1 teaspoon vinegar

1/4 cup water

1/4 cup maple syrup

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1/2 teaspoon chili powder

1/8 teaspoon black pepper

6 (1-inch thick) pork chops

Mix onion, vinegar, water, syrup, Worcestershire sauce, salt, chili powder and pepper and pour over pork chops. Cover and bake at 400 degrees 45 minutes, basting occasionally. Uncover and bake 15 minutes more. Place chops on platter and pour sauce over.

Serves 6.

Each serving contains about:

389 calories; 294 mg sodium; 89 mg cholesterol; 29 grams fat; 9 grams carbohydrates; 22 grams protein; 0.09 gram fiber.

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EASY MAPLE SQUARES

3 eggs

2/3 cup oil

1 cup maple syrup

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup chocolate chips (more if desired)

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Beat eggs and add oil, syrup and vanilla, beating between each addition. Mix together flour, baking powder and salt and stir into wet ingredients. Add chocolate chips and walnuts and stir just until mixed in.

Pour batter into greased 13x9-inch baking pan and bake at 350 degrees until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, about 30 minutes. Cool and cut into 36 squares.

Makes 36 squares.

Each square contains about:

122 calories; 57 mg sodium; 19 mg cholesterol; 7 grams fat; 14 grams carbohydrates; 2 grams protein; 0.10 gram fiber.

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JEAN’S GRANOLA

5 cups quick-cooking rolled oats

1 1/2 cups wheat germ

1 cup shredded coconut

2 tablespoons brown sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 cup maple syrup

1/2 cup butter, melted

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup raisins and/or chopped walnuts

Mix oats, wheat germ, coconut, brown sugar and cinnamon in large bowl. Add maple syrup and mix well. Stir together melted butter and vanilla and mix into mixture. Turn into large shallow pan and bake at 325 degrees 15 to 20 minutes, stirring after 10 minutes. Cool, add raisins and/or nuts. Store in airtight container.

Makes 8 cups.

Each 1/2-cup serving contains about:

276 calories; 79 mg sodium; 16 mg cholesterol; 11 grams fat; 41 grams carbohydrates; 7 grams protein; 0.84 gram fiber.

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Syrup Speak

* Budding: Warmer weather in the late spring causes leaf buds to swell, and syrup made then takes on a strong molasses flavor. Signals the end of the season.

* Grading: USDA Grade A light, medium and dark amber are considered table grades. USDA Grade B is a dark, strong-flavored syrup, often used in cooking. All are the same density. Light amber, available early in the season, is used for maple candy and maple cream.

* Sugarbush: The maple grove where trees are tapped and sap collected. A sugarbush is measured not by the number of maple trees but by the number of spouts or taps set. Some old maples drip sap from as many as four spouts. Young trees, at least 40 years old, have one tap. Each tap yields about 10 gallons of sap over the season, which makes one quart of syrup.

* Sweet trees: Some sugar maples have sweeter sap than others. It takes fewer gallons of the sweet sap to make a gallon of syrup. Efforts to breed for this trait have failed so far.

* Tapping: It is the first step in sugaring, when small holes are drilled about 3 inches into tree trunks. Many old trees have been tapped this way for more than 75 years.