God's Gift to Indiana is in the Jar

We Hoosiers are pretty sure God is embarrased by the Indiana winters s/he dumps upon us. It gets really interesting living in Nappanee under the "lake effect" of Lake Michigan. This winter has been a doozy. I lost track of the various records the weather set.

But just as there is a silver lining in every cloud, there is an amber lining in every thaw. Perhaps the sweetest nectar known to man comes from the hard Maple trees in our woods. For the sap to flow freely, it takes a series of freezing and thawing starting early and lasting as long as possible. This has been a very good year indeed.

The Smuckers, our Amish neighbors across the road, tapped our trees again this year beginning in February and can't remember a better crop. We just brought over twenty cases for this opening weekend. It takes about 40 gallons of sap to boil down to one gallon of pure maple syrup. If there is liquid gold, this has got to be it. Comparing Mrs. Butterworth and Log Cabin maple flavored corn syrup to pure maple syrup is like comparing Fleischmann's oleomargarine to butter.

Most people can't wait to sweeten their pancakes with it; because of my grandmother, I can't wait to have my first maple syrup ice cream sundae of the year. I've already forgotten about all of the snow and have proof that spring has arrived.