As we trudged down a path sculpted through deep banks of pristine snow, Cantor reminisced about his early days in the business, when sap was collected in metal buckets and transported by horse-drawn sled. Now the Cantors maintain a sophisticated network of plastic taps and tubing, but they’ve adopted little additional technology, eschewing the contemporary practice of significantly concentrating the sap before boiling it. What that technique saves in time, Cantor argues, it sacrifices in flavor, flattening the syrup’s caramel complexity and minerality. “Sadly, the industry is striving to get rid of the concept of terroir in maple syrup,” he said.journey-inline-newsletterinline-newsletter