The Official U.S. Maple Syrup Almanac -- 2017 Alamanc_2017 | Page 51

By PAUL POST
B
ob Hausslein took a good idea, started running with it and hasn’t stopped yet. About 15 years
ago, while roasting a pig, he stumbled across the idea of making smoked maple syrup, which as
fate would have it, turned his entire life and business around.
“Chefs down in the big city
were exploring new flavor com-
binations as part of the then
current ‘molecular gastronomy.’
One of them asked me to run
with this riff of smoke and sugar
we had found, and the category
was born,” Hausslein said. “We
are originators of Smoked Maple
Syrup, and have been produc-
ing and selling it since 2005 at
least. We don’t have a patent on
the process, which is basically to
expose the syrup to real wood
smoke in some form. I sure have
turned a lot of folks on to the
idea, though.”
His firm, Sugar Bob’s Smoked
Maple Syrup, started out in
Londonderry, Vt.
“We take process-controlled
maple wood smoke, and bub-
ble it through real maple syrup
using special valves and food
grade compressed air,” he said.
“ Nothing else is ever used. Just
real maple wood smoke, gener-
ated at very specific tempera-
tures, infused into real maple
syrup. That’s it.”
However, in May, Hausslein
purchased a separate company,
Vermont Maple Sriracha, and
moved the entire operation,
except his sugarhouse, to Rut-
land, where he leases space at the
Vermont Farmers Food Center.
Srirach is a traditional hot
U.S. Maple Syrup Almanac
sauce from Thailand.
“The move to Rutland has
been fantastic,” Hausslein
said. “We have our syrup, our
smoked syrup, and the maple
sriracha in three varieties -- srira-
cha coated cashews and peanuts,
and our smoked maple barbeque
sauce heated with Vermont
Maple Sriracha.”
A Boston Globe food critic
gave rave reviews.
“The nuts are crunchy, spicy
and addictive,” the Goble said.
“Like the sauces, they’re a deli-
cious balance of heat and sweet,
with a little tang and an under-
lying hint of maple.”
2017
Soon, plans call for making
smoked maple almonds and
smoked maple sriracha, which
can be used as a flavoring for
chicken wings.
“We’ve grown steadily over
the years and were looking for a
new modern facility to work in,”
Hausslein said. “We already sold
our smoke maple product