{"product_id":"9780306822056","title":"The Sugar Season: A Year in the Life of Maple Syrup, and One Family's Quest for the Sweetest Harvest","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...\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHow 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?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAt a sugarhouse owned by maple syrup entrepreneur Bruce Bascom, 80,000 gallons of sap are processed daily during winter's end. In \u003ci\u003eThe Sugar Season\u003c\/i\u003e, 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).\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhynott 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.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAs 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.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Da Capo Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47120602726640,"sku":"9780306822056","price":13.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9780306822056_p0.jpg?v=1763671337","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9780306822056","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}