Warm, sunny days and crisp, freezing nights are to me the welcome signs of sugar season. From late February oftentimes to mid-April, dedicated Maine sugar farmers work around the clock tapping maple trees and boiling down the sparkling clear sweetwater. Developed by the Native Americans of the Northeast, the art of making sugar and syrup from the sap of the acer saccharum has become a classic Maine tradition.

The uniquely delicious taste of maple syrup varies with each sugar orchard, depending upon the soil and terrain, the wind and the weather. Sometimes the syrup is dark and rich, sometimes pale gold and delicate. The variations are comparable to those of wine, and like winemakers, Maine maple syrup producers take a lot of personal pride in their product.

This is why, for 15 years now, producers all over the state have been inviting people to see their sugarhouses in operation and, best of all, to taste this great natural product. Maine Maple Sunday, the fourth Sunday in March, has become a family tradition in our house. Every year, regardless of the weather, we don our boots and head for the woods.

No matter how many times I hear the story, I still marvel that it will take 40 gallons of Indian sweetwater to produce 1 gallon of maple syrup. The dense clouds of steam rising from the evaporators in the sugarhouses are sweetly perfumed as the newly collected sap is kept constantly boiling. We sample fresh syrup and tour the sugarbush, strung with plastic tubing or hung with metal buckets. Some years my kids have even petted ponies and enjoyed sleigh rides.

Pure Maine maple syrup has been brightening the flavor of Down East food for hundreds of years. Native Americans taught the early Mainers their practice of using maple syrup as an all-purpose seasoning, much like salt. Colonists found that maple syrup could flavor beans or make biscuits a tasty supper.

In turn, the European settlers shared their knowledge and cooking utensils with the Native Americans. Until their arrival, there were no fireproof vessels in eastern North America. The Indians boiled the sap in thick wooden contaniers by dropping red-hot stones in it. The European iron kettle made the work of boiling sugar much easier and the product a lot clearer.

Thus every spring, the iron kettles bubbled steadily, providing the self-sufficient Maine farmer with an ample supply of his own-grown sweetness. Maple sugar and maple syrup were cheaper and easier to get than imported cane sugar. Furthermore, the production of cane sugar was primarily done by the work of slaves. Maple syrup, produced by free men, better suited the Yankee temperament of our early Maine ancestors.

Today, as back then, appreciation for our maple syrup goes way beyond Maine. My French daughter, Lucile, had never enjoyed pure maple syrup before coming to Maine. The most requested food item from friends and family in California is maple syrup, and maple sugar candy is also a welcome treat.

Our agronomist president, Thomas Jefferson, tried to establish a sugar bush at Monticello. There have been attempts to start a maple syrup industry in Europe, but they all have failed. The trees may grow, but the long, slow spring of Maine is needed to produce the sweetness in the sap.

Our family of five will consume or give as gifts 5 gallons of pure Maine maple syrup every year. It is far superior in taste to the artificially sweetened stuff marketed for pancakes, and quite delicious on waffles and French toast. Maple syrup also brightens a bowl of oatmeal, makes ice cream a great afternoon snack, and serves as a great dip for chicken fingers. We stir it into plain yogurt and flavor apple pie and bread pudding with it. I use it as a glaze for roasting meats, and it is amazing how quickly vegetables are consumed when seasoned with maple syrup.

So on March 22, the 15th annual Maine Maple Sunday, why not take your family to the woods to see this process? Be sure to wear boots and tour the sugar bush. As you breathe deeply the clean forest smell that means the arrival of spring, you will discover, as our family has, another wonderful Maine food tradition.

If you are a purist, the recipes for Maple Sugar Brownie Torte and Maple Muffins may be made with maple sugar instead of brown sugar. Maple sugar results from boiling the sap until the liquid has almost entirely evaporated. In times when I have had no maple sugar, I have found that the substitution of brown sugar worked well. If using maple sugar, cut back the maple flavoring to one-half of what’s given in the recipe. Maple sugar may be purchased at the Natural Living Center on Stillwater Avenue in Bangor and on Wilson Street in Brewer.

Maple Sugar Brownie Torte

6 egg yolks

1/2 cup maple syrup

1/2 cup milk 2 tablespoons maple flavoring 3 cups sifted cake flour 1 1/2 cups brown sugar 4 teaspoons baking powder 12 tablespoons soft, unsalted butter

Grease and flour two 8-inch cake pans. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

In a medium bowl, combine the egg yolks, milk and maple flavoring.

In the large bowl that fits an electric mixer, whisk together the dry ingredients. Add the soft butter and the maple syrup and beat at medium speed for 1 1/2 minutes. Add the egg mixture in 3 batches, beating at high speed for 30 seconds each time.

Pour the batter into the prepared pans and bake until a toothpick inserted into the torte comes out clean, about 25-35 minutes. The top of the cake will rise and then fall, but this is normal.

Cool the torte on a wire rack for 10 minutes, then remove from pan and finish cooling. Dust the top with powdered sugar. Excellent served with a scoop of coffee ice cream.

Each cake serves 6-8.

Maple Muffins

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour Pinch of salt 2 teaspoons baking powder 1 teaspoon baking soda 1 teaspoon ground allspice

1/8 teaspoon ground cloves 6 tablespoons unsalted butter at room temperature

2/3 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup milk

3/4 cup maple syrup 2 teaspoons maple flavoring

1/2 cup pumpkin or squash puree 2 eggs

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Grease a tin that will hold 12 medium muffins.

In a large bowl, sift together flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda and spices.

In a medium bowl, cream together the butter and sugar. Add eggs one at a time and beat well. Beat in the milk, maple syrup and flavoring and squash puree.

Add maple mixture to flour mixture and just stir to incorporate. Do not overmix.

Spoon batter into muffin tin. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the muffin comes out clean, about 25 minutes. Cool on a wire rack.

Makes 12 muffins. Baked Maple Acorn Squash

2 acorn squash, about 16-20 ounces each

2/3 cup maple syrup salt and pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Grease an ovenproof dish that will fit the squash halves.

Scrub the squashes well and cut in half the long way. Scoop out the seeds and strings. Place the squash in the ovenproof dish, skin side down. Fill the cavity about halfway with maple syrup. Season to taste with salt and fresh pepper.

Bake in oven until flesh is tender and can be pierced easily with a fork and top is golden brown, about 45 minutes. Serve immediately.

Allow 1/2 squash per person.

Roasted Cornish Game Hens with Maple Glaze

2 Cornish game hens 1 medium-size onion Salt and fresh pepper 1/3 cup maple syrup 1 tablespoon Chinese hot mustard 1 tablespoon soy sauce 2 tablespoons butter

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Grease a roasting pan that will fit the game hens.

Wash the hens and place in the roasting pan. Salt and pepper the cavity.

In a small saucepan on top of the stove, melt the butter in the maple syrup and whisk in the soy sauce and mustard.

Brush the glaze on the hens and inside the cavity.

Bake in the oven, basting with glaze every ten minutes or so. The hen is done when the internal temperature registers 160 degrees on a thermometer, in about one hour.

Remove the hens to a platter and cover loosely with foil.

Deglaze the pan with 1/2 cup chicken stock. Strain the drippings and remove the fat. Add the cooking juices to the remaining glaze and boil rapidly until the liquid is reduced to the thickness of gravy. Serve with the roasted hens.

Serves four.

Sugarhouses open for Maple Sunday

More than 60 sugarhouses and historical museums will be open to the public to celebrate the 15th Annual Maine Maple Sunday, March 22, and the spring rite of making maple syrup.

Most sugarhouses offer free tasting and a live demonstration of how syrup is produced. Many offer a variety of treats and activities, including syrup on pancakes or ice cream, sugarbush tours, a chance to pet or feed barn animals, and sleigh, wagon or tractor rides.

Many sugarhouses will arrange special tours and demonstrations for groups on other days as well.

For a free listing of sugarhouses and museums open this Sunday, contact the Maine Department of Agriculture at 207-287-3491 by Friday, March 20, or check out the Web site listing at: http://www.state.me.us/agriculture/marketprod/maple.htm