Your family has been producing maple at Palmer's Sugarhouse for several generations. Was there a moment growing up that made you want to carry on the operation?

“My entire life, I was helping my father and my grandparents. It's always been something we've done and enjoyed doing as a family. And then my father died unexpectedly of a heart attack, and suddenly I became the person responsible for continuing it. Through grade school, college, after college…I hadn't really considered, ‘Oh, I'm going to be doing this.’ He was doing all of the things, and I would kind of just help out occasionally. And then when he passed, it was like, ‘Well, I can't not do this. Let's keep going.’

“When we decided to continue it, I decided to try to enhance the activities and make it more comfortable and offer more entertainment for people to enjoy. They had the foundation of it, and I just explored some other new options.”

Is there a particular topic in the maple world that sparks debate? An interesting conversation that people who are not in that world might be interested to hear about?

“The question that comes up a lot, from both people in the maple world and people who are consumers, is whether there's a different outcome depending on the different ways of processing of sap into syrup.

“There’s cooking raw sap over a flame for a long period of time until it boils to syrup, from beginning to end. The alternative is a newer process of reverse osmosis, where you take an extraction system to remove the majority of the water first, and then boil what's left over. For our process, it literally takes five hours. With reverse osmosis, it could take fifteen minutes. The debate is: do they taste different?

“According to the UVM Extension Service, there's no flavor difference. But there are people who say it tastes different…my father was one of them, and I’m not, because I just enjoy sugar! But he used to say, ‘It IS different. It tastes different.’

“The reverse osmosis is a massive time savings. It’s less expensive. It’s more efficient. But it’s a different process, and I gravitate toward our slow, long process. Because ours is for education and entertainment, I don't want it to be fast. I want it to be slow, so people can see it, smell it, and enjoy it.

“So it could be a little bit of a debate. Some people are really hardcore about it…they’re diehards. They say it's a different product and much better. And they might be right.

“I kind of wonder…with wine, you have a sommelier. If you had someone with those equivalent tasting skills, would they identify one as a better quality than the other?”

People tend to think about maple syrup for pancakes, but in Vermont, it’s used for a lot of different things. Do you have a favorite or unexpected way you like to see maple used in food or drink?

“One of my favorite things is maple cream. I use it on toast, English muffins, donuts, French toast, deep-fried dough…it's phenomenal.

“We take syrup and cook it to 232 degrees…a little hotter than when it's maple syrup. We take it off the stove and let it rest to get to room temperature, usually on a bed of ice. Once it gets to room temperature, we start to stir it. Because we make a ton of it, we use an industrial machine. And it turns into a cream product…no additives, no dairy. But it turns into a cream, and it's one of the best.”

Bonus Question: After a long day during sugaring season, what are you pouring for yourself when you get home?

“Well, you know, that’s the great thing with maple syrup…you can add it to a whiskey or bourbon and it is incredible. It is just absolutely second to none!”