Every March, Penelope’s extended family gathers at her brother’s house for one of our favorite Vermont traditions: sugar on snow. For those non-New Englanders not familiar with this delicacy, the recipe is simple: heat maple syrup to 230 degrees, then drizzle it over a bowl full of clean, packed snow. The syrup will harden into a soft taffy that will curl around a fork. Best served with sour pickles, cheddar cheese (white! Never mind what I said yesterday!), and doughnuts.

Cousins lining up for snow.

The syrup arrives. (Requires adult supervision, because it is both dangerously hot and sticky.)

Hank’s first taste.

Cousins + Puppies + Sugar High = Really Excited Hank

When you’ve eaten all the SOS you can manage, stir the left-over syrup into maple cream, and spread it on your toast the next day. Soooo tasty! (Plus, no calories, since you burned them all off stirring, and stirring, and stirring, and stirring….)

Cousins getting sap right from the source (note the bucket on the tree).

Does Hank want some sap? …. Well, sure! He likes it!

The sugar buzz starts to wear off during a walk in the woods, but luckily Uncle Ick* carries Hank home. (Hank can’t say “Eric” yet.)

Here we are, milling around the sugar house, waiting for the sap truck to arrive. By gosh, there are a lot of us!

Syrup samples lined up behind the kitchen sink.

Jealous? You can order syrup for your own SOS bash from Uncle Ick at http://www.sweetstonemaple.com. Better pack a cooler full of snow and stash it in your freezer now, though, because that stuff is going fast!

-C