Sugar On Snow Supper

My friend Julie and her 11 yo daughter spent the weekend with us out West. We drove out in tandem yesterday morning. Julie and I go way back to high school when we met in 1978. She read about the Sugar on Snow Supper last year on this blog, and wanted to attend this year.

Sugar on Snow is a traditional New England seasonal event to celebrate the maple syrup harvest. The meal varies from community to community, but the big event is the dessert. Much of the meal was donated by local farmers who provided the beef and lamb for the shephard's pie, organic salad greens and milk from the dairy. There was music provided by some high school kids from the technical school who were playing Johnny Cash.

So about the sugar on snow: you are served a bowl of snow, then a pitcher of hot fresh maple syrup is passed around. You pour the syrup on top of the snow in thin strands. The syrup takes on a taffy-like consistency, so you use a fork to lift the sweet yummy strands off the snow, like you would pasta. You eat this with homemade donuts, dill pickles and black coffee. It sounds so weird, but it tastes delicious. Mark is not a big pickle fan, but even he gave it a try. Julie and her daughter were both enthusiastic about this combination. We sat with 2 other couples, and agreed to sit together again next year.

They told us stories about life in our little town 40 or so years ago, working on the tobacco and dairy farms. We introduced Julie to a colorful dairy farmer and other neighbors and acquaintances. There was a Chinese auction -- you buy tickets and put them in a cup in front of the item you hope to win. Much of what was offered was local produce such as a 10 pound box of blueberries, jugs of maple syrup or fresh herbs. There was a drawing at the end of the night and her daughter won something that she was quite excited about.

Here is a photo of Julie and her daughter as we walked along our dirt road, in front of a neighbor's who still collects his maple sap the old-fashioned way, in buckets. It was windy and cold and raining and delightful.

Her daughter had a blast in the studio where we worked on collage. I gave her about 2 sentences of "instruction" and she was off and running. She completed 4 or 5 small pieces in a very short amount of time.

They bought maple syrup from our neighbor and by the time I spoke with her later this afternoon, she and her family they had already made maple chicken, maple asparagus, maple smoothies and had taste-tested the local syrup against what they get from Costco. She said that they are ready to buy more already. I love sharing the country experience with friends. It is a very special place.