Maple Sugaring: A Family Tradition
The art of maple sugaring at the Eldridge Family Sugar House and Ice Cream Shop in Tamworth is very much a family affair.
Upon arrival, I was greeted by young family members Greyson and Rylee Theriault who then made a mad dash to summon Terri Eldridge, Scott Eldridge, and Erica Theriault for the interview. Having done his duty, Greyson returned to playing with his trucks, later disappearing into a back room.
Other family members include Brandon Eldridge, Matt Theriault, Brittaney Eldridge, Adalynne Eldridge, and Bodie Eldridge.
With Terri, Scott, Erica, and Rylee all chiming in, they began to recount the story of how, in 2015, the father-and-son duo of Scott and Brandon Eldridge began boiling maple sap with a custom-built barrel stove in the backyard. In 2016, they built their first sugar house, with a wood-fired 2-foot by 4-foot evaporator. In 2017, they had 400 taps. In 2019, they purchased a 2.5-foot by 8-foot oil-fired evaporator, and in 2020 built their new building, which has expanded to have an ice cream shop and a retail area.
Scott is the contact person for all things related to maple sugaring. He states that the sugaring season is unpredictable, usually 5 to 6 weeks between the end of February and into March, but it can be “different every year” as it requires a specific combination of warm days and cold nights.
Because the season is short, it requires a lot of hard work, and the entire family pitches in.
Using blue tubing (in lieu of the traditional sap buckets), the family taps 500 trees in Tamworth, 1,100 in Moultonborough, and 500 in Ossipee. (Over Maple Weekend, they do tap a few trees with the traditional buckets.) After boiling the sap (typically 40 gallons of sap makes 1 gallon of syrup, but it can vary), the Eldridge family produces around 430 gallons of syrup. Syrup then is graded into classifications as golden, amber, and dark.
Erica stated that many people are not familiar with the maple sugaring process. She goes on to add that the strangest question she was asked involved the blue tubing used to carry the maple sap from the trees. “Is that what you use to collect the honey?” Dumfounded, she explained that honey comes from bees, not trees.
Erica and Terri describe Brandon Eldridge as “the big idea person” in the family. While working together, all the family members bounce ideas off each other, and Terri describes the family camaraderie as her favorite part of the mad rush during the maple sugaring season. Erica states that the maple syrup grading, using the Hanna scale of light transparency, is her favorite part of the process. “You never know what you are going to get,” she said.
Rylee then stated that her favorite part is “eating the maple ice cream.”
In addition to serving maple-flavored soft-serve ice cream, the Ice Cream Shop has 30 other flavors of ice cream. Over the past year, the kitchen has been expanded to include maple-related “grab-and-go” items and a 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. cafe for breakfast and lunch. Hours and days change according to the seasons.
Plans are in the works to expand their store to create a “one-stop shop for campers.” In addition to carrying maple products, they plan to carry camping items and “lake” items, US-made products from local vendors, small batch/small business items, and local meat and eggs.
The Eldridge/Theriault family also is dedicated to helping the community. They have done school tours with Rylee as a guide, have donated syrup and baskets for fundraising pancake breakfasts, contributed to school supply drives, and have participated in Thankful Thursdays, where non-profit organizations are donated a percentage of the sales.
Maple Weekend 2024 is slated for March 16 and 17. Visitors to the Eldridge Family Sugar House and Ice Cream Shop will be able to view the entire process, from tree to evaporation. There will be guided tours. Sap will be boiling on the evaporator. Offered will be a tasting of warm syrup, sugar on snow, maple products, maple-flavored soft-serve ice cream, and maple cotton candy.
The Eldridge Family Sugarhouse and Ice Cream Shop is located at 183 Plains Road (Route 41) in Tamworth. Phone number is 603-252-7125, the website is https://www.eldridgefamilysugarhouse.net/. Hours and days vary with the seasons.