By Ysabelle Kempe Globe Correspondent, March 15, 2019
For Robert Hausslein, aka Sugar Bob, the best quality family time is going out into the woods together and harvesting hundreds of gallons of maple sap. Hausslein co-owns the maple product company Sugar Bob’s Finest Kind in Rutland, Vt.,with his wife, Ann, and another couple, John and Andrea Ogden. The company specializes in unique maple products, including maple sriracha, maple barbecue sauce, and smoked maple syrup, which is made by bubbling wood smoke through the sweet liquid. They rely on about 10,000 trees.
This year’s maple season just began, a late start compared to last year’s in February, but Sugar Bob already has some words of wisdom.“All we can say is that it's going to be sweet and sticky and a lot of fun,” he said. “If the days are warm and the nights are cold, it will be a good season.”
Photo: NATHAN KLIMA FOR THE BOSTON GLOBE
