# The Sugar Season

Canonical: https://www.bookquiver.com/douglas-whynott/the-sugar-season

![The Sugar Season](https://quivercdn.com/covers/da-capo-press/douglas-whynott/the-sugar-season_978-03-0682-204-9.jpg?v=2026-05-14%2001%3A03%3A29)

- Authors: [Douglas Whynott](https://www.bookquiver.com/douglas-whynott)
- Language: en_GB
- Published: 2014-03-04

## Description

A year in the life of one New England family as they work to preserve an ancient, lucrative, and threatened agricultural art- the sweetest harvest, maple syrup... How has one of America's oldest agricultural crafts evolved from a quaint enterprise with " sugar parties" and the delicacy " sugar on snow" to a modern industry? At a sugarhouse owned by maple syrup entrepreneur Bruce Bascom, 80,000 gallons of sap are processed daily during winter's end. In The Sugar Season , Douglas Whynott follows Bascom through one tumultuous season, taking us deep into the sugarbush, where sunlight and sap are intimately related and the sound of the taps gives the woods a rhythm and a ring. Along the way, he reveals the inner workings of the multimillion-dollar maple sugar industry. Make no mistake, it's big business- complete with a Maple Hall of Fame, a black market, a major syrup heist monitored by Homeland Security, a Canadian organization called The Federation, and a Global Strategic Reserve that's comparable to OPEC (fitting, since a barrel of maple syrup is worth more than a barrel of oil). Whynott brings us to sugarhouses, were we learn the myriad subtle flavors of syrup and how it's assigned a grade. He examines the unusual biology of the maple tree that makes syrup possible and explores the maples'- and the industry's- chances for survival, highlighting a hot-button issue: how global warming is threatening our food supply. Experts predict that, by the end of this century, maple syrup production in the United States may suffer a drastic decline. As buckets and wooden spouts give way to vacuum pumps and tubing, we see that even the best technology can't overcome warm nights in the middle of a season- and that only determined men like Bascom can continue to make a sweet like off of rugged land.

## Editions

### The Sugar Season

- Publisher: da_capo_press
- ISBN: 978-03-0682-204-9
- Pages: 1
- Published: 2014-03-04
- Language: en_GB