Maple Syrup

THURMONT -- From the Catoctin Mountains in Frederick County comes this message: Forget Vermont.Maryland isn't renowned for producing syrup, but the folks who trekked here yesterday for a celebration of the state's sticky stuff were acting as if they were in a new maple heaven.Seminars on how sap is extracted from maple trees drew hordes of visitors, and the lines for pancakes poured out the door."I've been a big fan of maple products for a long, long time," offered one visitor, Crystal Testerman of Bel Air. "I never thought a lot about Maryland being a maple state."

A sweet tripCome sate your sweet tooth and learn something too at the 28th Annual Maple Syrup Heritage Festival, where Cunningham Falls State Park personnel will demonstrate the tree-tapping and sap-boiling processes. There will be a video presentation of the history of maple sugar production, children's stories about maple sugaring and a tour through the park on horse-drawn carriages (for a small fee). Also featured will be a display of antique farm machinery and mountain crafts. Best of all, the park's food concession will serve breakfast all day for those wanting to savor fresh maple syrup.

GORMAN -- In a scene that recalls images from a Li'l Abner cartoon, a cloud of steam -- rich with the fragrance of maple water -- drifts from the aged shack with the weathered board siding and sheet-metal roof perched on the side of a hill.It's maple syrup production time, and a new generation of the Steyer family is busy keeping up a tradition that dates back more than 100 years."My daddy used to say he could go up on the top of this hill and see the steam rising from 19 or 20 sugar maple camps and a like number of moonshine operations," Michael Steyer said as he stirred a boiling tank of "maple water," or sap, slowly being transformed into syrup.

DON'T FORGET to stop by the sugar shack in the Brightwater pavilion at Downs Park this weekend for the beginning of this year's maple sugar-making.Volunteers will be demonstrating the process between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. tomorrow and Sunday.Ranger Bill Offutt, the program's originator, and others began tapping the park's red maples at the end of January, hanging sap collectors made of plastic milk jugs from more than 200 trees. They have been taking those jugs back to the shack, where the sap is boiled until it is sweet maple syrup.

SWEET POTATOES are not easy on the eye. Their long, dark shapes and odd bumps make it difficult for them to win friends easily and influence palates.But like a lot of things in life, once you get beyond firstimpressions, sweet potatoes have a lot to offer. They may be bug-ugly on the outside, but in the right hands they can deliver sweet satisfaction.They are a difficult sell, especially to kids. The other night, for instance, when my wife served up a plate of sweet-potato french fries to our two kids, they turned up their Yankee noses.

ANGLERS AND boating lovers can shop till they drop (or the cash gives out) at Pasadena Sportfishing Group's annual two-day flea market. It will be held from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. tomorrow and Sunday at Orchard Beach fire hall on Solley Road.Admission is $1.New and used fishing tackle and supplies, boats and boating supplies will be on sale. Charter boat captains will be on hand offering information on trips. Several crafters will be selling home decor items and gifts with a nautical theme for that special waterman in your life.

Most of the year, Downs Memorial Park in Pasadena welcomes campers, picnickers and concertgoers. But in February and March, it's taken over by a dozen volunteers whose outdoor pastime goes back to Colonial days: "Old Fashioned Maple Syrup Makin'.""It takes about 60 gallons [of sap] to make 1 gallon of syrup," said Chuck Jochen, 60, a retired federal government worker from Pasadena who's into sap.Colonists learned to make syrup from Native Americans, who used birchbark buckets to collect sap, then added heated rocks to condense the sap into syrup because they did not have containers that could withstand fire.

SOMETHING WACKY was afoot at Charles Carroll Elementary School last week. Students filed into the school from their buses, teachers waited to teach classes everything seemed OK at first glance.But, upon closer inspection, everyone was dressed with their clothing backward, and inside out. Wednesday was Spirit Day at the school -- another way to keep students excited about coming to learn."The students get a real charge out of it," Principal Richard Huss said, "especially when the teachers and staff participate."

GOOD HEALTH is something that cannot be bought but is valued by all. Students at Carrolltowne Elementary are learning about good health in an innovative and entertaining way through a weeklong health fair at the school.Children will be able to visit the six stations of the fair during their gym classes this week. Each station concentrates on an aspect of maintaining good health.People costumed as apples, carrots, watermelon and broccoli will mingle with the students to discuss healthy foods.

Vermont's gentle beauty reveals itself modestly as you thread your way by car over the rolling hills and streams, past white churches, village greens and town gazebos. Unlike the magnificence of a Pacific seascape, or the reverence inspired by the Rockies, this landscape offers tranquillity.And so it is with food. Vermont has no shortage of pretentious inns and restaurants, generally clustered around ski resorts and promising epicurean delights at New York prices. Their allegiance is not to durable, purposeful Vermont but to a tourist trade that wants to travel without leaving home.

Fall is New England's signature season, in both foliage and food. It brings the flavors of tradition - apples and cranberries, maple syrup, squash and pumpkins in vivid colors and interesting shapes. Hearty chowders and stews. Indian pudding. Pancakes, with the fruit of the orchard. And the abundant bounty of the sea, so much a part of life from Connecticut to Maine. But, as a spate of new and updated cookbooks from the region shows, there's much more to New England cooking than the food of the Pilgrims and the American Indians, especially during this harvest time of year.

"Chestnuts roasting on an open fire." Those six simple words from "The Christmas Song," written in 1944, create a vision of holiday cheer that has stood the test of time - a crackling fire to ward off the cold and dark of a winter evening, friends and family gathered nearby and the simple, delicious pleasure of eating sweet, meaty chestnuts. One hundred years ago, those chestnuts undoubtedly would have come from American chestnut trees, once a dominant species in East Coast forests. But by the time Nat King Cole crooned those famous words, the trees were nearly gone, felled by a blight.

Planked salmon makes an attractive and delectable summer main course for entertaining. I offered two recent guests this entree with corn on the cob and coleslaw, but some steamed sugar snaps and a plate of sliced heirloom tomatoes would also make tempting sides. Our two guests certainly liked fish cooked this way; they both asked for the moist smoked salmon recipe! Grilled Salmon on a Cedar Plank Serves 4 One cedar plank (see note) 4 salmon fillets, about 1-inch thick and 6 ounces each 1/3 cup soy sauce 1/4 cup pure maple syrup 1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh ginger 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice 1 teaspoon minced garlic 2 tablespoons chopped cilantro for garnish 2 tablespoon chopped green onions, white and green parts only, for garnish 4 lime wedges for garnish Soak the cedar plank in water in a roasting pan - or other pan big enough to hold it - for at least 40 minutes; leave the plank in the water until ready to grill.

The Summer Shack Cookbook The Complete Guide to Shore Food The New York Times Country Weekend Cookbook Edited by Linda Amster St. Martin's Press / 2007 / $32 If Jasper White's guide to summer eating is like a classic lobster roll from a roadside stand, this compilation from the august newspaper of record brings to mind a wine-and-cheese picnic for a New York Philharmonic concert on Central Park's Great Lawn. Cleanly designed, filled with urbane but easy recipes, the book is a conglomeration of finds from Times' food writers and some of the nation's best chefs.

St. Patrick's fest in O.C. The lowdown -- This year, celebrate St. Patrick's Day by the beach (though it's way too cold for a dip in the water). Ocean City's St. Patrick's Day Parade and Festival runs for most of the day Saturday at the 45th Street and Coastal Highway Shopping Center parking lot. The festival features live music and Irish food and drinks. At noon, a parade starts at 61st Street and marches down Coastal Highway to the festival area. If you go -- The festival will take place from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday.

CENTRAL Pancake supper set for Tuesday The youth of Trinity Lutheran Church will hold a community Shrove Tuesday pancake supper from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday at the church, 833 Deer Park Road, Smallwood. A free-will offering is requested for local and world relief ministries. Information: 410-848-8923. Maple Sugarin' Festival is March 5 The 20th annual Maple Sugarin' Festival will be held from 10:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. March 5 at Hashawha Environmental Center, 300 John Owings Road. Maple syrup and pancake platters will be served for $3 all day. Syrup-making demonstrations, food made with maple syrup, a children's activity area, birds of prey and craft vendors will be featured.

On a brisk sunny afternoon, several mothers and their children carried galvanized buckets, drills and hammers into the woods surrounding Bear Branch Nature Center in Westminster. They identified the tallest, hardiest maple trees, mostly by their silvery white bark, and set to work on the first phase of a process that could end with maple syrup. "Mom, drill please," said Victoria Dinisa, 9, of Littlestown, Pa. "I need to make a big hole." Actually, Victoria only needed to twist and turn the hand drill, called a brace and bit, long enough to place a 2-inch hole in the thick bark.

Make maple syrup Learn how one of America's first agricultural products is made at Cunningham Falls State Park's 35th Maple Syrup Making Demonstration this weekend in Thurmont. Park staff will demonstratetree tapping, boiling and packaging and give talks on maple syrup's history. Music will be provided both days by local bluegrass band Hangfire. Visitors can have a sausage-and-pancake breakfast at an additional cost. The demonstration runs 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday at the William Houck Area at Cunningham Falls State Park, 14039 Catoctin Hollow Road, Thurmont.

Tie a fly Some may say it is macrame for men - but real fly-fishers know how to tie their own flies. Those interested can learn to turn feathers and colored wool into tasty-looking critters that could tempt a trout on Tuesday at the Gilman School. The fly-tying demonstration is sponsored by the Maryland chapter of Trout Unlimited. Joe Bruce, author of several fly-fishing books, and Wally Vait, a fly-fishing guide, will teach the workshop. The Gilman School is at 5407 Roland Ave. The demonstration is in the Carey Building, and it starts at 7:30 p.m. Free.

Sweeten your weekend by visiting the Oregon Ridge Nature Center. This weekend and next, the center is presenting its sweetest event -- the annual Maple Sugaring Weekends. Visitors will enjoy samples of sweet syrup direct from the center's maple trees, watch the trees being tapped and watch sap boil into syrup. "Every hour we'll have a hike to the sugar bush and drill a hole," says Kirk Dreier, Oregon Ridge Nature Center director. "We'll show how it's done in New York, New Hampshire, Vermont and Canada.