Hermit Woods Maple

When the ground starts to freeze and the snow starts to fly, the crew at Hermit Woods puts down their hammers, chisels and shovels. Winter in Vermont wasn’t meant for working with stone. It was meant for maple sugaring. (And skiing). We are out in the woods throughout the winter months scouting new sugarbushes, checking lines, putting up firewood and in general getting ready for the spring. And then…when the days grow longer, the temperatures warmer and spring starts to threaten, we start to get excited. Because we know: it’s maple sugaring season. It’s time to make some syrup.

We Believe in Tradition

Sam’s grandfather starting sugaring almost fifty years ago, building a sugar house in Middlebury, Vermont using timbers he’d harvested right off the site. Uncle Pete took up the mantle when Gramps retired and continues to carry it to this day. He’s still sugaring in that same building, and still using buckets, putting out hundreds each year with the help of friends and family. And while Sam has graduated to tubing (and built a new sugarhouse at his place in Sharon, Vermont), he’s still making syrup just like Uncle Pete and Gramps - over a wood fire, carefully crafting each batch to ensure that it’s of the highest quality. Because nothing beats good old fashioned 100% pure Vermont maple syrup.

We Believe in Quality

Hermit Woods Maple is a small operation. That’s a good thing. We’re not some massive conglomerate, sucking and pumping sap out of trees, mechanically concentrating it, and then spitting syrup out into the hundreds of barrels. We’re a small batch operation, carefully crafting maple syrup using traditional techniques. It’s 100% pure, unadulterated Vermont maple syrup.

We boil using wood, knowing that wood imparts a purer flavor that oil can never hope to achieve .

We start with raw sap - there’s no reverse osmosis here. Maple syrup gets its flavor from the boiling process. If we take that away, we’re taking away it’s essence.

We put our sugar house at the bottom of the hill and let gravity aid in bringing the sap to us. As people who care about not just this generation but the next one too (and the one after that), being a steward of our sugarbush to make sure our maple trees see tomorrow is just as important as making maple syrup today.

And we bottle in glass, ensuring that you can see for yourself just how finely crafted our syrup really is. Purchase yours today!

We Believe in Syrup

Syrup comes in four grades. And despite the marketing tricks of yesteryear, they’re all good. The grades denote the color of the syrup and the distinguishing characteristics of the flavor. No one grade is better than the others, though specific grades are sometimes preferred for specific uses. Just remember: they’re all maple syrup, they’re all delicious, and they’re all of the exceptionally high quality that you expect from Hermit Woods Maple.