America the Bountiful

[Capri] Oh, my.

God.

This is so, so good.

One of Mother Nature's sweetest: treats maple syrup.

[man] The process is fun.

It's like this magic product.

It's a magic thing.

[Capri] No longer just for pancakes.

We found that maple syrup is really complementary to a lot of different flavors.

[Capri] Yeah, it is.

In Vermont, maple syrup is nearly a religion.

[man] It's the Maple Madness.

This is the most Vermont thing.

And communities come together around it.

I'm Capri Cafaro and I'm on a mission to uncover the incredible stories of the foods we grow... ...harvest, create... ...and celebrate.

Beautiful, amazing meal.

So, I'm traveling America's backroads to learn our cherished food traditions from those who make them possible... Look at that.

...and are helping keep them alive.

There is so much more to learn.

[man] It's just a tradition here in this area.

-[gunshot] -[woman] Mmm hmm.

[Capri] On "America the Bountiful."

[announcer] America's farmers have nourished us for generations, but today they face unprecedented challenges.

American Farmland Trust works with farmers to help save the land that sustains us.

Together we can work to keep America bountiful.

[Capri] One of the oldest food traditions in North America is tapping maple trees for sap and boiling it down to the prized natural sweetener maple syrup.

The state of Vermont, with its heavily forested landscape, has long been a mecca for the practice.

Though the origins of syrup production aren't clear, it began with indigenous peoples long before the arrival of European colonists.

Lucy Neel is part of the Nulhegan Band of the Coosuk Abenaki Nation, whose family has been producing maple syrup for generations.

How did it get served from the tree to the table?

Well, we start in the springtime.

The snow starts to melt.

The water from the snow absorbs and it goes into the tree and the tree is starting to come alive.

So, the sap is up in the tree and then it expels.

So, the process is drilling a little hole in the tree.

It's like giving blood as what gather.

Exactly.

It's the one spot and then the sap just goes down into the pipeline.

So, this happens when it is warm in the day and it freezes at night.

So, as long as it's freezing at night, you're going to have a good run into the upper 30s, 40 degree weather in the day.

You're going to have a good sap run.

Well, things have really evolved over the decades and the centuries.

I want to take a look back.

So, I'm curious to better understand the indigenous practices of harvesting maple, particularly pre-contact before colonialism.

Yeah, we had what we call spiles and they were like a little reed.

We'd do a slit in the tree diagonal and put the spile in the tree.

And then we had birch bark buckets that we would just sat at the bottom of the tree.

It would freeze and kids would get the ice and they'd suck on them.

A little natural popsicle.

Absolutely.

So, that was kind of like a treat for the kids.

And we would boil the sap down.

Well, you've been sugaring for a very long time.

What do you love about it?

Oh.

Just the nature, wilderness, hiking through the snow.

It's just healthy and it's just invigorating.

And it's our history.

My people migrated from Canada.

At that time, the farmland was cheaper to purchase here than it was in Quebec.

And they taught people here how to make maple syrup.

[Capri] Native Americans introduced syrup-making to early European colonists, who in turn evolved the practice for new techniques and technology.

He's just drilling a hole.

And then he's going to take the tap and then he's going to put it right in the hole.

Tap it in.

That's why they call it a tap.

I guess so.

And then he's going to put the bucket on there and then cover the bucket and there you have it.

Now, how long, generally speaking, would you need to leave a bucket up?

Until the end of the season.

[Capri] Until the end of the season.

Tap season occurs during late winter and spring and typically runs four to eight weeks.

[Lucy] Every day we come and we empty it out into a gathering tank, and take the gathering tank to the sugar house and get it ready for boiling.

We wood fire.

The flavor is much more robust It is the way it's supposed to be.

[Capri] Lucy's brother, Roger Pion, runs their family operation, tapping around 500 maple trees each season and donating a portion of their bounty to the Mohegan Tribe of Abenaki.

The sap comes out of the trees, but it's not syrup until it comes in here.

Correct.

Explain the process from when it comes out of the tree and comes into here.

Well, I have tubing and I have vacuum on the tubing.

And what's the purpose of the vacuum?

Pretty much sucks the sap out of the tree.

It will run naturally, but you'll just get a lot more volume.

Then it goes into the upper holding tank.

Up there?

Tat tank up there is what feeds the arch.

-This is the arch.

-This is the arch.

Okay.

[Capri] The arch is where the sap is boiled to evaporate the water creating syrup.

Though the sugar content of sap will vary, even within a single tree, a common estimation is that 40 gallons of sap will yield about one gallon of syrup.

[Roger] This is an old school set up.

I have no iron row.

-A lot of the-- -Reverse osmosis.

Correct.

[Capri] Reverse osmosis is an engineering technique that helps remove the water from the sap prior to boiling accelerating the syrup making process.

You know, I'm just old school.

I took it the old way, and I feel that you can taste it in my syrup.

Yeah.

It's wood fired, which I've never seen before.

Right.

I think the wood fire gives it a very good flavor also.

I want to know what you love about sugaring and making maple.

It's a beautiful time of the year in this fine state of Vermont.

The process is fun.

You know, who would have thunk that you could, you know, take sap out of maple trees and boil it down and come out with syrup?

It's like this magic product.

[Roger] It's a magic thing.

It's all around you.

So, after it boils, it comes out of here and then it's ready to be filtered?

Yes.

So, I usually pull it off a little light.

[Capri] Light in sugar content.

And dump it in this finish off pan.

Then it just goes through a filter press.

[Capri] It filters out anything from the tree that's not wanted in the syrup.

Ha!

That's what you're looking for.

-Okay.

-Nice and clear.

[Roger] That's a good syrup.

[Capri] How do people describe your syrup?

[Roger] Yum.

Oh, that is yum.

What people need to understand about maple syrup, is that it's got nothing to do with the stuff in the store that people think goes on pancakes.

Right.

The real deal is very different.

And even though it's sweet, it's not so sugar forward.

This is as old school as you can get.

[Capri] Roger uses his dad's equipment and makes their syrup with his sisters.

His brother has a large operation of 8,000 taps as well.

So, maple syrup is in your blood.

It runs through your veins and your trees.

Yeah.

Believe it or not, back when I was going to school, that's how my dad paid our tuition.

-Really?

-Yeah.

He'd barter with the school and give them syrup.

Oh, my gosh.

Then the fact that you're able to share it-- That's the best part.

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

That's what makes me happy to go up to somebody and say, "You want some syrup?

Here."

Building community one tap at a time.

One tap at a time.

[Capri] From traditional indigenous operations to modern day maple innovation.

Laura Sorkin and her husband Eric created Runamok with a large syrup making operation in Cambridge, Vermont, and a facility in Fairfax, where they have helped evolve a food product that had barely changed for centuries.

This is quite the spread.

Yeah.

We started messing around with spice rack and we found that maple syrup is really complementary to a lot of different flavors.

Waffles, pancakes, crepes, everybody loves that, but there's so many more uses for maple syrup.

And that's really what we want to see in the Maple community, is people using it as an everyday sweetener.

That's right.

Anyone that has a good idea, we're game for it.

For example, my husband came up with Makrut Lime Leaf.

It is a fan favorite.

It is so good.

If you put those high lime leaves, also known as makrut, in maple syrup, it just becomes this floral, marvelous, lovely-- It's completely different from maple syrup.

Really nice on fruit, on ice cream, all sorts of things.

Ethereal is a good way to put it.

That is quite a word to describe maple syrup.

You could also just say floral.

It's very floral.

-Floral.

-Yeah.

I definitely get the floral.

You know, it's interesting.

It does not overpower the maple, which I thought it might.

That is really quite subtle and great.

[Laura] So, this is Merquen Chili.

Wow.

It's a chili pepper blend from the country of Chile.

It's got the smoky, the sweet all together.

Oh, my god, that is good.

That is so, so good.

I would so use that in a marinade.

It's sweet forward and then the heat gets you.

That's fantastic.

Our most popular with the infused is definitely the cinnamon vanilla.

Oh, sure.

It's a fan favorite.

[Laura] It's a classic.

Yeah.

Now, this is next level infusing.

Yeah.

What is this about?

My husband had seen glitter beer.

He was wondering if you could do the same concept with maple syrup.

And I was like, "Oh, honey, I don't know if that's exactly on-brand for us."

But we released it and it was an immediate hit.

People just absolutely loved it, especially all the kids.

I think a lot of people presume it's gritty.

It's absolutely not.

The glitter part is pearlescent mica, which is just a mineral.

So, it's just going to taste like pure maple syrup.

Just tastes like maple.

And it is not gritty.

-Yeah.

-That's amazing.

Now, you have done so much R&D.

You infuse, but you also use barrel aging, is that right?

Yes.

Yep.

So, we do barrel aging as well.

Again, maple syrup, very conducive to a lot of spirits, particularly the darker spirits.

Really, really good.

We will get a freshly emptied barrel.

We do bourbon, rum whiskey, apple brandy.

Yum, yum, and yum.

Yep.

And we will fill it with maple syrup, and then we just let it sit and it does its magic.

And there's just some sort of great alchemy that happens between the wood, between the alcohol that's left behind and the maple syrup that's in there.

There's no alcohol in the final product.

Or if there is, it's just the most scant amount, but it's just sublime.

Do you have anything that actually brings together the infused maple with the barrel aged process?

We do.

We do.

We've got one.

It's banana rum.

And we take our rum barrel aged and we infuse it with the dried bananas, and the result is like this incredible caramel bananas.

It's so good.

Oh, my god.

That is so, so, so, so, so good.

-Yeah.

-That barrel aged.

That hint is there?

-Yeah.

-It's buttery.

Tiny bit of rum.

You've done such incredible work.

Now I got a share it.

Laura is a formerly trained chef who worked at the New York City restaurant scene early in her career.

And her explorations in the kitchen continue.

You do so many incredible things with the maple products that you make, but I know that you are equally as excited to try to encourage people to use maple in creative ways in their homes.

So, the first thing we're going to make today is a traditional dish from Quebec.

In Qubcois it is Pouding chomeur and literally translated it is "dessert of the unemployed."

Dessert of the unemployed.

It is a Depression era dessert and it was designed to be able to be made with just basic pantry staples.

And of course, in Quebec, that includes maple syrup.

And Quebec is obviously also a neighbor of Vermont, so there's a lot of Qubcois, French-Canadian and Acadian influences here in Vermont, too.

Exactly.

So, we're going to start with creaming the butter and our sugar together.

[Capri] Fantastic.

So, now we're going to add our eggs one at a time.

This really is pretty simple.

There's only a few ingredients involved.

Then we're going to quickly add our all-purpose flour.

Everybody who knows anything about biscuits knows you don't mix it too much or it's going to be really tough.

Tough.

Exactly.

And then at the same time, we're going to add about a teaspoon of baking soda.

This is stuff that everybody has in their kitchen, so.

Exactly.

We're going to let it rest for 10 minutes.

This is another super easy thing to do with maple, and that is just make a basic caramel.

Okay.

So, we're going to take equal parts heavy cream and maple syrup and just bring them to a boil on the stove.

So, you're going to take your ramekins now.

And they're prepped and greased with a little bit of butter.

You're going to take enough dough so it comes up maybe like two thirds the way.

Not all the way to the top because it's going to rise.

You just want it to be really rough.

Mm-hmm.

Throw it on in there because you want the maple syrup to be able to get all around it.

-I see.

-Perfect.

Okay, so now take your caramel and you're going to pour it right on top of this.

So, that's going to go in the oven at 400 for roughly 20 minutes.

[Capri] I get the feeling that there are a lot of other things that we can do with maple in a creative way.

So, for years now we've been trying to get people to use maple syrup for things other than just pancakes and waffles.

You're speaking my language.

Where can we start?

Let's start with making a cocktail.

[Capri] Okay.

This one is actually a classic that's been around for a bit, and it's a maple bourbon Old Fashioned.

Very easy to make.

So, we'll have two ounces of bourbon.

And then you can use a pure maple syrup or a smoked maple syrup.

A teaspoon to start.

You don't want it to be too sweet.

[Capri] Okay.

And then we're actually going to add a little bit of aromatic bitters.

These are your bitters.

-Yes.

-It smells wow.

So, it's a maple based bitter.

Two or three drops of that.

And then you definitely need to have the twist of orange.

Add some ice, then give that a stir.

And the maple syrup, it doesn't come through like super mapley.

It just combines with the bourbon and it brings out the vanilla of the bourbon.

Really nice drink.

You know, it's interesting because had you not mentioned the vanilla in the bourbon, maybe I wouldn't have noticed it.

But you're right.

That's very, very good.

And super easy to make.

Thank you, maple.

[Laura laughs] Now what?

So, while we're on drinks, we can move on to lemonade.

So, we've got three tablespoons of lemon juice and about the same of maple syrup.

And what kind of maple syrup are we making with this lemonade?

So, we're going to have our super, super fun lemonade and make it with Sparkle syrup.

Now, it's not just for the kids, okay?

It's not.

So, give that a stir.

So, this is another reason why maple syrup is great for all sorts of drinks.

It's already a syrup.

If we were working with granulated sugar, we would have to turn it into a simple syrup.

[Capri] Right.

Now, we're adding about eight ounces of water.

That is not sugar.

That is mica.

Yeah, it's pearlescent mica, which is just a mineral.

That's great.

I like the tang.

I like the sweet.

It's not too overpowering and it's glittery.

-Ten out of ten.

-Yep.

So, another one that we really like to spread the word about is maple syrup is amazing on ice cream.

This is one that's really nice for the barrel age that the flavor really comes through.

And this is a whiskey barrel aged.

That is pure vanilla ice cream.

-Oh, my god.

-Yeah.

This is so, so good.

It's perfection in a cup.

So, another really easy one, and this is more on the savory side, is to make a super easy glaze.

It's half maple, half soy sauce.

I've already reduced it.

And this is roasted pork that I've done ahead of time.

But you can also use this glaze for any kind of stir fry that you're going to have.

I love sweet and savory together, so I know I'm going to love this.

Mm.

So, good.

You can really see how you can build upon that flavor layering.

Yeah.

Yep.

So, the last one is with cheese.

Fantastic.

Cheese.

[Laura] So, this is nice with a really smoked maple.

Give it a try with the cheddar cheese.

Oh, my god.

You've got that saltiness, the creaminess, the smokiness and the sweet all together.

Thank you for describing it while I'm stuffing my face.

You did me a solid.

All right.

These look done.

[Laura] Yeah.

You can add ice cream or whipped cream, but they're also pretty darn good, just as they are.

I'm all about this.

This is incredible.

Sweet, simple, decadent, but at the same time, something that you can just whip up.

You have really opened my eyes to how many things we can do with maple.

You can make it sweet, you can make it savory, you can make it spicy, and you can put it in pretty much anything.

I'm going to take these these tips home with me.

And I'm going to take this home with me, if you don't mind.

You're welcome to.

[Capri] Another longstanding tradition in this state is the creemee, the Vermont version of soft serve ice cream.

Maple creemees are an obviously popular choice here.

And Charlie Menard, the founder of Creemee Canteen, took the inspiration to the next level, creating the most maple creemee ever, the Bad Larry.

In Vermont apparently there can never be too much maple, right?

No, no.

And that is what I hear this Bad Larry legend is all about.

It's the maple madness.

Bad Larry is maple madness wreaking havoc everywhere.

Well, it needs to wreak havoc in my direction.

So, let's see what this is all about.

All right.

So, first we take a big cone, put a layer of maple right in there so that the end is as good as the beginning.

Oh, wow.

Then we put a few of these maple crystals in here.

So, it's maple layer one, maple layer two, and this is maple layer three.

So, we're going to fully encrust it with the maple cookies and then... [Capri] More maple.

So, this is maple layer four, five.

This is maple layer five.

[Charlie] So, we'll let that run down.

[Capri] Six, seven.

And then more of these babies.

I'm going to need napkins.

[laughing] There you are.

Now, this is pretty bad.

How did you come up with the name Bad Larry.

So, I had this group of young people that were working for me and they would refer to cool things as Bad Larry's.

When I opened this place, it was like, "Oh, this is a bad Larry."

I think Bad Larry has quite the cotton candy toupee here.

Yeah, that's his crazy hair.

Mmm.

This is so fantastic.

I love maple anyway, so maple on maple on maple with the seven layers of maple.

Right.

This is the most Vermont thing ever.

And it might actually cost me more to make than I charge for it, but sometimes that's not the important thing.

So, it's just looking to really put together the most maple thing I could.

How do you source your maple?

So, I've been getting it since day one from the same farm right down the road.

And he's like a sixth generation Vermonter.

And he and his father, who is in his nineties now, still are doing it every year.

I love it.

[Charlie] Maple is something that we could never, ever not do.

It's tradition.

[Capri] The history of incorporating maple syrup into baking is rich in Vermont as well as nearby French Canada.

In Grand Isle, an island in the middle of Lake Champlain, Donnasue Shaw runs the bake shop with her family out of their home to the delight of the community.

I absolutely love and adore pies.

It's one of my first culinary loves.

And I hear that you're going to share with me a pretty classic maple-based pie.

I am going to be making the Quebec Sugar Pie.

So, also known as a tarte au sucre.

French Canada celebrates a day in June, Bastille Day.

We live so close to French Canada that we decided that we needed to find a French Canadian something and came across this Quebec sugar pie.

-Yeah.

-And it was a hit.

All right, so this is flour.

-Okay.

-Get that in there.

-And cornstarch.

-Cornstarch.

[Donnasue] I'm fluffing that up and mixing it together a little bit.

So, now we add an egg.

I'm just mixing this until it gets nice and smooth.

So, now brown sugar.

Mix that up again until it gets smooth.

So, now you can use cream or whole milk.

I'm actually using Half and Half right now because that's all I had.

So, it should be good and rich.

[Capri] Where do you get this maple from?

My husband's cousin who lives just down the road.

They have what they call a small pan sugar house.

So, we need a whole cup.

I just love this stuff.

Just mix this until it's all the same color.

So, it's ready to go.

It's ready to go in the pie tin.

There you go.

[Capri] Oh, so how long is that on for?

Forty-three minutes at 400 degrees.

Okay.

You got to explain to me the unique pie shop experience that you've set up here in pretty much one of the most beautiful locations I've seen.

We are on the Lake Champlain Bikeway.

[Capri] And there you are like a mirage.

[Donnasue] Yeah, it's been great.

We've met so many amazing people.

What made you decide to go from baking for yourself and your friends and family to sharing the love with this bigger community?

In 2019, I was helping my niece sell baked goods, the local farmers market, and it really got me thinking about our location.

And plus, my dad had a retail shop here where the bake shop is.

He made and refurbished furniture.

So, we kind of had the retail thing in our history and it just kind of came to me that we should maybe try this and boy, it's just taken off.

But you don't sit down there and like, man the shop, so to speak.

You do it in a different way that I think a lot of people would be surprised by.

It's an honor system and there's cash down there to make change.

People can use cash, check or Venmo.

[Capri] It seems very quintessentially Vermonter.

[Donnasue] Yeah, I think Vermont is about community and trusting your neighbor.

[Capri] It smells so good.

We got some decoration.

I can't resist because you know what?

They're little maple leaves.

[Donnasue] I know.

I really cannot wait to taste this.

Yeah.

Oh, my goodness.

You really can taste the fresh maple.

And I have to say, your pie crust is perfect.

Oh, thanks.

[Capri] Absolutely nailed it.

You know, I have to check out the rest of the things that you make.

And I bet that your pie shop needs a bit of restocking right now.

Oh, yes, I'm sure it does.

[Capri] This place is absolutely awesome.

I have never seen anything like it.

It's such a unique concept.

I mean, you can tell that sense of community.

[Donnasue] I mean, we love our locals and we want to use as many products from the island and certainly from Vermont as we can.

We also want to care for people, love on them a little bit in the minutes they spend in our bakeshop.

And if they pay with cash, they put their money in the birdhouse right here and they can take their change right there.

[Capri] It's like a baked goods piggy bank.

The sense that I've gotten is that everyone here is so community focused, so committed to serving one another and supporting one another.

And I really feel like that's what this bake shop is all about.

Wow, that's really great to hear.

[Capri] Serving each other... Oh, that is yum.

...serving the community, Perhaps that's the natural byproduct of living in a land where Mother Nature provides delicious and nutritious natural syrup just waiting to be tapped from its trees.

But why take my word for it, when you can come see it and taste it for yourself.

"America The Bountiful" is waiting for you and me.

For more information visit Americathebountifulshow.com.

[announcer] America's farmers have nourished us for generations, but today they face unprecedented challenges.

American Farmland Trust works with farmers to help save the land that sustains us.

Together we can work to keep America bountiful.