This March, Townshend Elementary School launched its Farm to School Program, opening with a maple syrup tasting event to celebrate the Harvest of the Month. 

During the last week of March, physical education teacher Carla West shared facts about the maple syrup harvest in Vermont. On Friday, March 25th, there was a taste test session in each classroom. Teachers Kelsey Taddei and Kathy Gatto-Gurney lead the effort with support from Food Connects staff Jenny Kessler. They asked students to share what they had learned or already knew about maple syrup. Not surprisingly, there were many experts in the house! At least half of each class had either made maple syrup themselves or had visited a friend or family member who makes it. And it was clear that Ms. West’s teaching had stuck—many students in each class told us right away that it takes 40 gallons of maple sap to make just 1 gallon of syrup!

Discussing that fact (and the related time and energy required to make real maple syrup) helped students understand why someone had the idea to make imitation syrup out of corn syrup. But could imitation syrup taste like the real thing? Pre-K through 5th-grade students did a blind taste test of Vermont maple syrup and imitation syrup made with corn syrup. They were asked to choose which syrup they preferred and guess which syrup was “from the tree.”

Not surprisingly, most Townshend students could tell right away which was the real thing. “This one tastes like chemicals,” said 4th grader Seamus Crockett. His classmate Stella Cleveland agreed. “This one tastes buttery and sweeter, and chemically. You can taste it in the aftertaste”. Daniel Sullivan knew it too, “This one tastes like butter. Butter taste comes from store-bought; it doesn’t come from a tree.”

These comments were echoed throughout the school. Students also looked at the ingredients in each product and discussed differences like distance traveled to the store and homes and the reasons for different price points of each syrup.

Students also tasted fresh sap that had been collected that morning. Most students were less familiar with the sap, and it helped them understand the 40:1 ratio a little more concretely.

Both students and teachers are looking forward to monthly taste tests and more Farm to School events in the future. The school would like to thank Ms. West’s family for the generous syrup donations.