Syrup's rising cost spurs Vermont gold rush

For years, Errol Tabacco was a maple sugar hobbyist. Each February, he'd tap about 100 trees on his property, haul buckets of sap to his garage and boil it into syrup for his family and friends.

0

0

LANCASTER, Mass. (AP) — Maple syrup producers are under fire for tapping maple trees in Central Massachusetts cemeteries.

2

0

BLACKSBURG -- Before he takes its sweet sap, Britt Boucher gives the maple tree some sugar. "Just sit the bucket on the tree, kiss the tree and thank it for its sugar," Boucher said as he smooched and patted a towering sugar maple in a snow-covered grove.

8

11

The sweet smell of maple syrup permeated the air at the Maple Festival in West Chazy on Saturday morning. Visitors said it's the taste of that sugary topping that keeps them coming back year after year.

1

1

As the winter's cold begins to loosen its hold on Connecticut, maple sugar makers carefully watch the weather.

4

6

The United States food supply is more reliable than those found in many other countries, but there are still some common scams to look out for: Consumer Reports found that most "wild salmon" advertised in grocery stores is actually of the less desirable farm-raised variety.

3

0

Maple sap tapped as potential green products sourceThe maple tree already provides Canadians with a beautiful part of the landscape, a national emblem and the sticky sweet syrup created from its sap.

3

2

Family harmony meatballs

WE had a big garden back in Vermont and a country house heated by a wood stove. I would dry herbs from the kitchen ceiling and toast crumbs while cooking down sauces or simmering pot roasts and porridges atop the household kiln throughout the day.

14

6

Note to conservatives: Story about global warming. Please ignore. :)

14

2