It Begins With an Idea
An idea and something you are proud to share.
Maybe you can’t find what you need. Or maybe your choices leave you wanting. Maybe you just want to make dear friends happy. Whatever your original motivation, if you can learn to do or make something yourself you just might create something new and wonderful to share with others.
That is the story of how Cary & Main Co. began…not being able to find something yummy and kosher and wanting to make dear friends happy.
Of course, there is always a back story. In the late 1800’s there was a man by the name of George Cary. He was a hard worker, a traveler, a family man and, it turns out, lucky too. After much hard work, and a bit of luck, he was dubbed the ‘Maple King’ after starting something monumental in St. Johnsbury, Vermont - the maple sugar industry.
Cary developed vast and efficient wholesale networks to bring Vermont maple syrup from the furthest northern woods to the masses. He raised prize-winning cattle, started an inn for leaf-peeping tourists, and even made a black and white silent film about maple syrup making and eating - possibly the first-ever cooking show?! Wonderful things happened for George Cary in St. Johnsbury, Vermont, and Cary & Main Co. is named in honor of his life lived at the corner of Cary & Main Streets.
You too can be inspired by Mr. Cary’s life and many accomplishments reading Maple King: The Making of a Maple Syrup Empire by Matthew M. Thomas.
In learning about George Cary, living in St. Johnsbury, and generally loving and eating something made with maple syrup pretty much every day, of course, my husband and I were inspired. But it wasn’t until we were talking with our Rabbi and his wife Dina in California that we learned that their only source of kosher maple creme was never in stock. Well, here was a problem that needed solving. Urgently! Who better to work on it than their Vermont friends?
Weeks later Cary & Main Co. was born. We purchased a maple creme machine and began taste testing (entire) batches in earnest. Now, with the recipe perfected and certified kosher, we are ready to share our gift with anyone (everyone!). It is delicious. It is pure, organic and kosher. We made sure it is worthy of your family’s table. Mr. Cary would be so proud!
