Maple syrup on pancakes is one of my favorite meals. Just the image of a short stack of pancakes with a pad of melting butter and a flood of maple syrup flowing over the sides onto the plate makes my mouth water. I remember the day I realized the difference between real maple syrup and Mrs. Butterworth’s;. If there can be such a thing as an epiphany in the mind of a teenage boy then I had one. Since then I’ve tried maple syrup in oatmeal, in muffins, in beer, over yams, as candy, in ice-cream, and even as a lubricant for massage.
What makes maple syrup so special, beyond its flavor and the different ways it can be used, is that it’s seasonal. We have to wait until the spring thaw before we can get to the business of collecting sap and boiling it down into liquid gold. And just like the growing season for crops, it’s weather dependent. There’s a collective sigh of relief when the sugaring season is good or collective groan when it’s not. But that anticipation is the most appealing to me. The maple-sugaring season is the hallmark of spring and the New Year and what better way to celebrate spring than to have sugar on snow at a maple festival or a local sugar shack!
A bit of maple syrup history.
It’s commonly accepted that the Native Americans discovered maple syrup. Exactly how they discovered it seems to be in dispute. I’ve read that a Native American observed a chipmunk chewing through the bark of a maple tree and licking up the sap that flowed. I’ve also read that Native Americans tried the icicles that hung from the broken branches of a maple tree in spring only to realize how sweet they were. What we do know is that the Native Americans boiled maple sap down into maple syrup using hot rocks and it is believed they used the inner bark of the maple tree for medicinal purposes.
The Native Americans learned early on the value of maple syrup as a trade commodity and so traded it with early traders, explorers, and settlers. Eventually the techniques used to make maple syrup were passed onto and exploited by the settlers. The original method used to gather sap involved cutting a V shaped notch cut into the bark of a maple tree. Sometime around 1790 they realized that the slashes in the bark were not good for the maple tree’s health. Someone determined that it was better to drill a half-inch hole in the tree and insert a spile (spout) to allow the sap to run out.[1] We still tap maple trees in this manner today. Those early spiles were made of a softwood twig such as sumac. The soft center was pushed out leaving a hollow wooden tube that could be inserted into the hole drilled into the maple tree. The sap would then drip out through the spile and into a collection vessel such as a hollowed out log.[2]
Early on maple sap was boiled down with the intent of creating maple sugar and not maple syrup. Primarily because there was no easy way to store maple syrup at that time. The thickened syrup was poured into molds and allowed to harden. If you wanted sugar to sweeten something you’d simply shave or break off some of the sugar from the block.[1] Maple sugar was the major sweetener besides honey in the New World until the late 1800s when locally grown cane & beet sugar took over. Imported beet & cane sugar were available but at a much higher price. Local production of cane and beet sugar came about because of the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, which gave the United States its first opportunity to produce sugarcane and establish a sugar industry. In 1818 maple sugar sold for about half the price of imported sugar. But around 1880, the cost of imported sugar was about the same as maple sugar and then around 1890, the taxes that kept the price of native beet and cane sugar high were removed.[3] Not long after this change, maple sugar as a commodity all but ceased to exist.
The technology that made the industry possible was quick to keep up with the demand. In the early to mid-1800s a flat-bottomed pan for concentrating sap was introduced. The flat bottom pan was mounted on what is known as an arch, usually made of brick. This greatly increased the surface area exposed to the flames below and thus significantly reduced boiling time. Not long after, around 1860, the evaporator was invented. Evaporators were essentially flat bottom pans with sectional dividers that allowed the cold sap to be run in at one end and the finished maple syrup to be drawn off at the other. [4]
The first patent for a metal tap was filed with the United States Patent Office in 1860 and sometime around 1870 or so metal buckets overtook wooden buckets for sap collection. In 1916, metal tubing was tested for sap collection but proved to be impractical. In the 1960s, tractors were being used to gather sap instead of horses. In 1959 the first patent for a plastic tap and plastic hoses was placed. Wood-fired arches were quickly giving way to the oil-fired evaporators during the 1970s with the exception of the time during the oil crisis.[5] Reverse-osmosis technology introduced to concentrate sugar content of sap before boiling, made its debut in the late 1970s.[2]
It's somewhat ironic that just as the technology for making maple syrup was advancing by leaps and bounds, the cheaper cane and beet sugars overtook maple sugar as the sweetener of choice and forced a huge change in the maple sugar industry. Being a resourceful lot, the sugar makers switched from making maple sugar to maple syrup instead and were soon selling liquid gold in bottles and cans. Today, the vast majority of maple products sold is in the form of maple syrup. The world's largest producer of maple syrup is Canada and the largest exporter of maple syrup is Ontario!
Nutritional value of maple syrup
It’s not often that we get to say that something that tastes so good is actually good for you but in the case of maple syrup, it’s true. Maple syrup contains the minerals calcium, potassium, manganese, magnesium, phosphorus, and iron. Maple syrup also contains trace amounts of B2 (riboflavin), B5 (pantothenic acid), B6 (pyridoxine), PP (niacin), biotin and folic acid. Maple Syrup has about the same 50 calories per tablespoon as white cane sugar. The sodium content of maple syrup is a low 2 mg per tablespoon. Maple syrup is not just a drop in the bucket of nutrition but can actually be declared a good source of three essential elements - calcium, iron and thiamin!
Maple Syrup Products
Maple syrup has found its way onto the dinner tables of people around the world including: Ghana, Indonesia, Japan, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, Colombia, Guatemala, Mexico, Bahamas, Australia, New Zealand, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia.
Maple syrup is used for all sorts of edible treats, and in its liquid form, found in a variety of different recipes. You will find maple syrup in baked goods, cough syrups, candy, beer, and ice cream. But the number one way people like to consume maple syrup is straight up.
Maple sap is still boiled down today into three different varieties of sugar: grain sugar, cake sugar, and wax sugar. Grain sugar is a coarse granulated sugar similar to brown sugar. Cake sugar is poured into molds to become hard cakes or blocks. Cake sugar is where we get our maple sugar candies. Wax sugar is made by boiling syrup extra thick and then pouring it over snow. Wax sugar is the stuff of dreams – sugar on snow! And of course we have maple butter - butter with a maple base. Maple butter finds its way onto breads and other baked good.
Maple Syrup Festivals and Sugar Shacks
The sugaring season is celebrated in North America every year with a wide variety of maple festivals and sugar shacks open for public tours. At every maple festival in the United States or Canada you will find maple syrup celebrated for its sweet contributions and significant financial contributions to the economy. Each maple festival is unique but they share common threads – like great tasting food and sugar on snow! Sugar shacks on the other hand will vary greatly. Some are modern and use tubes to collect sap and reverse osmosis technology while others still use the old methods of sap buckets, horse drawn sap sleds, and wood fired evaporators. To learn more about what’s available in your area contact your local maple association. These are the folks that are tapped in to the maple syrup industry and will be able to tell you about the maple festivals and the sugar shacks in their area. Give them a call and make go join in the fun!
In Canada:
- Ontario - Ontario Maple Syrup Producers Association (OMSPA)
- Quebec - Fédération des producteurs acéricoles du Québec
- New Brunswick - The New Brunswick Maple Syrup Association
- Nova Scotia - Maple Producers Association of Nova Scotia
In the U.S.:
- Vermont - Vermont Maple Sugar Makers' Association
- New Hampshire – New Hampshire Maple Producers Association, Inc.
- Maine - Maine Maple Producers Association
- Massachusetts - Mass Maple Association
- New York - New York State Maple Producers Association
- Pennsylvania - Northwest Pennsylvania Maple Association
- Ohio - Ohio Maple Producers Association
- Michigan - Michigan Maple Association
- Indiana - Indiana Maple Producers Association
[1] Holz-Clause, Mary,"Maple Sugar Profile", AgMRC, Iowa State University, http://www.agmrc.org/agmrc/commodity/forestry/maplesugar/maplesugarprofile.htm, last accessed Mar 5, 2006.
[2] Massachusetts Maple Producers Association, “MAPLE HISTORY”, http://www.massmaple.org/history.html, last accessed Mar 3, 2006.
[3] American Sugar Beet Grower’s Association, “History of Sugar Programs”, http://www.americansugarbeet.org/secndTier.asp?bid=125, last accessed Mar 3, 2006.
[4] Ohio State University Extension, “North American Maple Syrup Producers Manual
Bulletin 856”, http://ohioline.osu.edu/b856/b856_5.html, last accessed Mar 3, 2006.
[5] Sauter, Steve & Welch, Daisy, “Maple Sugaring and Technology”, http://www.stevesauter.com/Maple_Syrup_Lesson_Plan.html, last accessed Mar 4, 2006.