Let me wax nostalgic for a moment about pure maple syrup. I remember seeing the tap buckets all over Vermont and New Hampshire in the late winter--around February. I've made sugar on snow, where you heat up syrup and pour it over a pan of new snow (avoid the yellow stuff--seriously) and then, after 30 seconds or so, you peel the candy off. Mmm, maple sugar taffy. And oh! The little maple sugar candies with the hard-ish sugar crust and the smooth, creamy middle. I love those. Love 'em.

But maple syrup, the pure stuff, not the "maple flavor added" folks, is time and labor intensive. Who knew it took 32 to 52 gallons of sap to make one gallon of syrup? Or that you use cheese cloth to filter the syrup after boiling it bit by bit, but that's done while it's cooling down, and getting thicker, and so is harder to handle? And the sap season only lasts about 2 to 6 weeks a year. No wonder it's so good.

And expensive.

But it's far cooler to buy a quart of pure maple syrup in New England and send it to your poor daughter in Oregon, than it is to buy it pre-shipped to Oregon.

Thanks, Mom!