FARM PROFILE Tapping a Sweet Market for Success Ben's Sugar Shack expands to create an entire market on Route 101 in Temple, NH

How about a Wood's Crew Waffle Sandwich or a breakfast of banana, peanut butter and maple cream between two slices of French toast called "The Elvis"? Maybe for lunch, a Maple Sugar Pulled Pork or a Yard Bird featuring maple mustard to jazz up your grilled chicken on a grilled brioche with other toppings tucked between. &emsp;These are just a few choices on the lunch and all-day breakfast menu at the Maple Station Market in Temple, New Hampshire. The Market on Webster Highway (just off Route 101) between Peterborough and Wilton opened on Dec. 15, 2023. &emsp;"Originally, I thought I wanted to open a pancake house, but then I realized the market idea was better," says owner Ben Fisk, whose wife, Emily Sliviak, encouraged him to take this direction. &emsp;"It was a dream for both of us to have a place like this," says Sliviak. &emsp;She designed the market layout, including a sweet small-scale "sugar shack" in the market's center with an aisle open on both ends. Inside it are different-sized jugs of Ben's maple syrup and other mouth-watering delights that feature the syrup. &emsp;Sliviak's retail background brings balance to Fisk's maple production know-how. Seven years of work at Coll's Market (no longer open) in Jaffrey sparked her passion for a market/deli. A management position at a Publix in Tennessee added to her experience, and when she returned to New England, she met Ben, and together they pursued their shared goal. &emsp;Her focus is on the deli and market, and she knew that she wanted to stock products from local businesses as much as possible. Some of these incorporate Fisk's syrup into their ingredients. She worked with deli manager Greg Margolis to create the breakfast and lunch menu and had fun coming up with creative names. &emsp;"My goal was to show how many different ways you could use maple syrup," she says. &emsp;Maple Station Market sells various goods to customers, some local and some passing through on this well-traveled route between Keene, Portsmouth and Hampton Beach. Items from bread, pancake mix, coffee, cookies, snacks, and candy to fruits, vegetables, and made-on-site prepared meals are among the needs and treats sold. Their local products include bread, olive oil, meats, bacon and sausage. &emsp;Fisk explains that the business offers bulk orders of party-favor sizes for weddings and corporate events or up to fifty-five-gallon barrels for companies like food services and restaurants. &emsp;Fisk has pursued this plan since his early childhood. He "fell in love with maple sugaring at the age of five" after a preschool visit to a maple sugaring farm. This was what he wanted to do with his life, he told his parents, and his dad helped him tap some maple trees and built a small homemade evaporator for him. The whole family supported his ambitious goal. &emsp;Fisk's syrup kept improving, and by the time the 15-year-old had established and run Ben's Sugar Shack, the New Hampshire Maple Syrup Producers Association had chosen him as the Carlisle Trophy winner. He was the youngest person in New Hampshire who had won this prized trophy, says Sliviak. The award was for excellence in maple syrup production based on density, clarity, and flavor, and in 2004, Ben's was judged best in the state. &emsp;He shares what ratios are required for Grade A syrup. The density of it must be 67 bricks of sugar, which is measured by a hydrometer. It may take 64 gallons of sap to make one gallon of syrup. However, the rule of thumb is 40 gallons of sap for one gallon of syrup. &emsp;Gathering sap is weather-dependent, and our weather has changed in recent years. While March is considered "Maple Month" in New Hampshire, he points out that some of these days now arrive in February and continue into April. &emsp;"We need temperatures of 40 to 45 (degrees) during the day and nights that drop to between 20 and 25. The more days that are like that, the better the season," Fisk notes. &emsp;"If it's colder out, it typically makes a lighter sap. Later, when temps warm, saps become darker. As a result, golden syrup is light in color and sweet but does not have as strong a maple flavor as the dark syrups," Fisk explains. &emsp;People can taste this difference during free tours starting at Ben's Sugar Shack, a half-mile up the road from the market, continuing every weekend through March. The tours include seeing the sap caught by metal buckets affixed to multiple varieties of maple trees and the modern practice of collecting it through plastic lines. Fisk demonstrates how he runs the evaporator in the room where sap is boiled down to become syrup or "liquid gold." And visitors learn about the reverse osmosis system used. &emsp;A treat completes the tour with samples of golden, amber, and dark syrup, along with tastes of maple candy, maple doughnuts, maple fudge, and more. &emsp;Additional products made with Ben's maple syrup are available in the market, including maple frosted doughnuts, maple cotton candy, maple roasted nuts, maple barbecue sauce and maple flavored bacon. &emsp;The market is a to-go place and does not have space for sit-down tables. In the summer, there will be picnic tables outside where customers can sit to enjoy their meals. The 6 a.m. opening time makes it an ideal stop for coffee and breakfast. BOXBen's Sugar Shack & The Maple Station Market8 Webster HighwayTemple, New Hampshire603-924-3111bensmaplesyrup.com/pages/the-maple-station-market