The sap is now running from maple trees across the state . “ It runs from the maple tree looking exactly like plain water – clear , ” said Rick Walker , owner and operator of Rick’s Sugar Shack in East Hampton , where he turns the clear sap into varying shades of amber syrup .

Walker held his fourth annual Maple Sugaring Open House at the Sugar Shack on Saturday , March 7 . On the area’s first warm , sunny , spring-like day , the event drew a crowd of more than 500 people .

It was a far cry from last year, when an unusually long , cold winter with heavy snow slowed sap flow in New England and Canada .

Walker built his Sugar Shack 11 yearsago . “ I grew up in New Hampshire and worked on maple sugaring farms all through high school , ” he said . Walker said that he taps hundreds of maple trees on his own property and on South Main Street property , as well as on the properties of six other families in Middle Haddam and East Hampton .

“ Including yesterday– Friday – I will have tapped some 450 maple trees by Monday afternoon , ” said Walker , as he began his first tour outside the shack . He demonstrated how to drill a hole for tapping in a tree trunk and allowed visitors – even children – to try their hand at drilling .

This season , Walker began using a new type of container for the tapping process – blue plastic disposable bags that don’t need to be cleaned like buckets . “ But most of them were destroyed by squirrels , ” he said . “ They gnawed through the bags , and the sap spilled out . Now I’m using half plastic buckets and half blue disposable bags , reinforced with duct tape . ”

“ Drilling , ” he said , “ is done the day after a below-freezing night when the daytime temperature nears 40 . That’s when the sap runs best . ”

Walker had 350 gallons of sap to boil down , from what he calls his “ bucket brigade” collection the day before . He tested the cold sap to determine its sugar content , which was at 3 percent . “ This is going to give me a nice Grade-A Light Amber syrup , which Vermonters call ‘ Grade-A Fancy , ’” said Walker .

“ In the beginning of the season – in February – sugar content is 2 to 3 percent , from which youget Grade-A Ambers . It drops drastically by the end of March , to less than 1 percent sugar , ” he said . “ Then you’vegot a darker , Grade-B syrup that takes 50 gallons of sap to make one gallon of syrup . ”

In the boiler room , visitors watched as cold sap hit the 220-degree vat , producing maple-scented steam . “ The room is just dripping with it , ” said Walker . “ The vat is designed to boil down 25 gallons of sap an hour . As it boils , it changes color . It’s becoming syrup . ” Grade-A Amber syrups are generally favored for pancakes and waffles , while the Grade B syrups are used for cooking and baking .

Next comes the canning process – sterilizing the jugs , filling them with syrup and labeling them – and moving them to the new Sugar Store , where they are sold with other maple products made by Walker and his wife , Jill .

Prices for maple syrup have about doubled from 2007 , when it cost $ 33 . 20 a gallon . Walker has also had to raise his prices . “ It’s the economy , ” he said . “ The cost of plastic jugs has gone up because of the higher prices on the petroleum it takes to make them . Stainless steel prices are higher than I’ve ever seen . ”

Rick’s Sugar Shack is located at 69 Collie Brook Road , an unpaved section which can be accessed from Tertia Road or from South Main Street . The Sugar Shack is open every weekend until around April 1 , from 10 a . m . to 3 p . m . For more information , call Walker at ( 860 ) 267-7180 .