The Official U.S. Maple Syrup Almanac -- 2017 Alamanc_2017 | Page 52

PRODUCTION SPECIALIST Brian Sylvester fills bottles of smoked maple syrup.
and decided to jump in and try to capi-
talize on these common areas.”
Products are sold all over the world
from Switzerland to Japan. Hausslein
credits the Vermont Department of
Agriculture, Food and Markets, and the
USDA-sponsored Food Export North-
east for making such success possible.
“We also sell direct to consumer online
and at craft shows and markets around
the region,” he said. “We wholesale to
retailers across the country, and have
nice third party distribution regionally
as well. We also sell bulk smoked syrup
and sriracha to other specialty food pro-
52
ducers, which they use for their products
as well. For example, Vermont Farm-
stead comes to mind with their Vermont
Maple Sriracha Cheese.”
Hausslein got into the maple busi-
ness 26 years ago, when he and his wife,
Ann, got married. “My wife’s family has
been sugaring in the high mountain val-
ley town of Landgrove on some scale
for generations,” he said. “I got caught,
hook line and sinker. I decided to make
a go at it. I learned everything I know
about sugaring from Ann’s family -- the
Ogdens, of Landgrove -- and their inher-
ited knowledge they got from Lester
Cody, also of Landgrove.”
It’s an extremely small operation, with
just under 2,000 taps and a mix of buck-
ets and gravity-fed tubing. “Recently we
have made a big leap forward in 3/16-
inch tubing installation,” Hausslein said.
“I love it for it’s high vacuum and low
power draw (zero).”
Strategic partnerships with neighbor-
ing sugarmakers are critical to his overall
business model.
“Tony Kurjiaka, of TK trucking out
of Londonderry, and Steve Wiskoski of
Modern Maple, in Ira, both supply me
with quite a lot of feed stock for our
U.S. Maple Syrup Almanac
2017