Gift Baskets of Vermont.com Tastefully Handcrafted Gift Baskets for all Occasions   1-888-679-5865 You need Java to see this applet. Food Gift Baskets Honey Gift Baskets Maple Syrup Gift Baskets Breakfast Gift Baskets Chocolate  Gift Baskets Maple Syrup Gift Baskets There’s Maple Magic in the Green Mountains! Vermont Maple Syrup is an all-natural product that is known round the world for its’ uniquely rich and magnificently “mapley” flavor!  The pure joy of letting a big ladle of warm, freshly boiled maple syrup slide down your throat is a pleasure that most Vermont children get to experience at least once.   Boiling the sap from the hard maple tree, (Acer saccharum), to a proper consistency thereby  producing maple syrup is a tradition that goes back to colonial times, but some say syrup was made well before then.   Local Native American Indians of the Algonquin tribes called maple syrup, ”sinzibuckwud” ,which literally means, “drawn from wood”.  We probably won’t try to say that word fast three times, or use spell check on it!   It takes about thirty five to forty gallons of sap to make a gallon of syrup.  That’s one of the reasons it’s a bit of a pricey food item, besides the sheer amount of time and arduous physical labor it takes to make it.  Sap is the watery substance that comes from the tree, and small metal spigots called “taps” are driven into the tree to access the sap.  The amount of sap needed to make a gallon of maple syrup varies because of the sugar content in the sap.  The higher the sugar content, the less boiling it takes to get a gallon of syrup.  Sugar content is measured using a simple instrument called a specific gravity meter.  It’s really measuring the density of the sugar in the sap/syrup against a known standard.   Syrup that stays in the collection lines or in the holding tanks or buckets too long starts to get darker from bacterial growth and sunlight degradation among other factors.   That’s why boiling soon after collection is a best practice for boilers.  Syrup is graded using   letters A and B with sub qualifiers like fancy, light, amber, medium, dark, and cooking grade, among others.   Vermont maple producers do not add water or anything foreign to their syrup.  New Hampshire also makes an excellent quality syrup. By far, the biggest maple producers come from Quebec Canada. Well, that’s enough about maple syrup for now, but feel free to go to our articles pages for entertaining and informative articles, recipes, and information.  And don’t forget to order some syrup for yourself! Quality Guaranteed You will find our Gift Baskets   second to none as we seek only the finest products of Vermont and abroad.     Have a Question? Contact one of our gift basket design specialists to assist with any questions. Email Us Honey Maple Spread $14.95 Dip a crisp apple wedge into some Honey Maple spread by Maple Grove Farms in Vermont. Comes as a set. Maple Treats Gift Basket $39.95 Maple Treats Gift Basket will surround you with Maple flavor! Maple cream cookies, pure maple sugar candies, VT maple fudge, Maple Grove maple spread, a 1.7 oz. glass syrup leaf, two Lake Champlain maple crunch chocolates, and a bag of what else? Maple Crunch popcorn! All delivered in a beautiful woven basket with a wooden frame and handle. Grade A Maples Syrup Quart $16.95 Grade A Maple Syrup Pint $9.95 One Half Pint Vemont Maple Syrup Grade A $5.95     Our Online Store is Open 24 Hours a Day 7 Days a Week 365 Days a Year Gift Baskets            Baby Gift Baskets                Chocolate Gift Baskets                  Corporate Gift Baskets              Food Gift Baskets         Gourmet Gift Baskets         Maple Syrup Gift Baskets Copyright 2007 Thank You for visiting Gift Baskets of Vermont