Chester, Vermont's Mitch's Maples Continues A Long-Standing Family Tradition

photos by Joe Milliken
Published in Message For The Week, March 25, 2009
Mark Mitchell, owner of Mitch's Maples in Chester, has been keeping a long–standing family sugaring tradition in operation for many years, which began with his grandfather, Donald Mitchell, in 1944. “My grandfather started sugaring in 1944 when sugar had been rationed during World War II,” Mitchell said in a recent interview. “He first began boiling in the barn, before constructing a sugar house the following year. And some of that original structure still stands today.”
Originally, the sap boiling was done on a home made brick arch and a 2–by–3–foot pan, then several years later a more modern wood–fired arch was purchased. “From about the age of 6, I always wanted my dad (Dennis Mitchell) to bring me to the sugar house to boil sap with my grandfather,” Mark added. “After my grandfather retired, I began producing the family syrup and in 1990, I decided to purchase a larger evaporator, a larger wood–fired arch and also increased the number of taps from around 75, to 400 to 500.”
This greatly increased Mitchell's production from about 10–to–15 gallons produced by Mitch's MaplesMark's grandfather for family use, to about 140–150 gallons of pure Vermont Maple Syrup each year. “In 1993 my business partner Ken Duffy and I decided to expand even further by purchasing an even larger wood–fired arch and increased the taps to 800 to 900, allowing us to produce 175 to190 gallons of syrup. However, we burned 8–12 chords of wood each spring which was very labor intensive.”
So in 2001, Mitch's Maples made the conversion to oil–fired, a much cleaner and more efficient way to produce syrup. Taps were then increased to 1200, which produces 250–300 gallons of syrup. After another substantial sugar house addition in 2003, Mitch and Ken recently upgraded yet again with the addition of two reverse osmosis machines and a larger evaporator.
Vermont Maple Products“Mitch's Maples now boils for 500 to 600 taps and produces 1,000 to 1,500 gallons of Vermont Maple Syrup each spring,” Mark concluded. “The sugar house is open daily and we offer tours of the sugar house, and we also offer our pure Vermont Maple Syrup products right at the sugar house."
Mitch's Maples is also recently hosted an “open house” sponsored by the Vermont Maple Sugar Makers Association. Mitch’s Maples is located on Green Mountain Turnpike in Chester. For more information or directions call 228-5242.