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When you think of Maple Syrup, you immediately think of pancakes, and then of breakfast, these three things go hand in hand, like chips go with fish.
Pure Maple syrup comes from trees, it is a naturally grown food which is pure and sweet, the only other naturally produced food that is similar is Honey. The Sugar, Hard and Rock maple trees are amongst the many different types, from which is the sap is taken. The correct term of extracting the syrup is called “Tapping”. A tree that is to be tapped has to be more then thirty years old and have a trunk of more then 12″ in diameter.
The “Tapping” is achieved by boring a hole into the trunks of the trees, at a slant of around 10 degrees. A “Tap” of metal is then placed within the hole which acts as a tap or faucet. The “Tapping” of a trunk does no permanent damage and many are still in use today, as when they were first used over 100 years ago.
The metal faucet will remain in place for over a year or two or until the tree heals it over. The sap, a sweet clear liquid which drips from the taps, is collected by buckets which are hung on the taps; the tops of these buckets are kept covered to stop debris and rainwater from falling in. The buckets are emptied once they are full. Nowadays, plastic tubing has replaced the buckets as a more convenient method of collecting the sap.
The buckets are then taken to the “Sugarhouse”, where the sap is boiled at high temperatures, to pull out the water content, leaving behind the syrup.
The syrup is then cooled down, and when cold enough, poured into glass or plastic bottles. It can take over 35 gallons of sap to make just one gallon of maple syrup.
The earliest known recording there is of making syrup, is back in the 19th century, maple syrup became the only sweetener in the homes of American and Canadian people, instead of the usual white cane sugar, as sugar back then was to expensive for ordinary people to buy.
Maple syrup can be boiled even further to make other maple treats such as maple candy, maple sugar and maple cream. Maple syrup can be used to accompany many different types of foods such as doughnuts and waffles, or in porridge or with fresh fruit.
