Looking for:
Did maple syrup come from canada dayCANADIAN MAPLE SYRUP DAY - December 17, - National Today
Aaron adds that they still incorporate teachings and ceremony into their sap collection, like wrapping up some of the trees in seven different coloured fabrics — each colour a reminder of love, honesty, kindness, respect, humility and strength — to give thanks for the syrup they received.
Before the pandemic, at events and markets, she would hand out an information sheet that spoke about syrup being an Indigenous food and its origin story in the Mohawk legend, where the Creator gave the sweet water to the people to nourish them after a long winter. For Jolene Laskey, the seed was planted for Wabanaki Maple over 20 years ago.
It took several years after that to even realize that the harvesting they were doing was historically Indigenous. It offers handcrafted, small-batch, barrel-aged maple syrup in flavours like toasted oak, whisky and bourbon, and recipes on its website include maple-glazed pork belly and maple bourbon seafood glaze.
They also sell maple sugar and are looking to expand their facility to accommodate more capacity and volume. That old school method used by her sister became something she loved to do, and when looking for a business idea, she came to the realization that she could combine something she loved with a way to connect even further with her Wolastoqiyik heritage.
The winning design still appears on our cans today. Numerous developments have made life easier for hard-working maple-producing families. These advances also led to an increase in the number of taps to meet the growth in demand for maple products at home and abroad. Particularly noteworthy was the discovery of Quebecol, a polyphenolic molecule unique to maple syrup. Cary ca. Professional cyclists Antoine Duchesne and Hugo Houle fuel with maple.
Check out their favourite recipes. Learn more about the environmental benefits of the sugar bush. It is also used as an ingredient in baking and as a sweetener or flavouring agent. Culinary experts have praised its unique flavour, although the chemistry responsible is not fully understood.
Three species of maple trees are predominantly used to produce maple syrup: the sugar maple Acer saccharum , [5] [6] the black maple A. A few other species of maple Acer are also sometimes used as sources of sap for producing maple syrup, including the box elder or Manitoba maple Acer negundo , [5] [12] the silver maple A.
Similar syrups may also be produced from walnut, birch , or palm trees, among other sources. Indigenous peoples living in northeastern North America were the first groups known to have produced maple syrup and maple sugar.
According to Indigenous oral traditions, as well as archaeological evidence, maple tree sap was being processed into syrup long before Europeans arrived in the region. The Algonquians recognized maple sap as a source of energy and nutrition. At the beginning of the spring thaw, they made V-shaped incisions in tree trunks; they then inserted reeds or concave pieces of bark to run the sap into clay buckets or tightly woven birch-bark baskets.
The maple sap was concentrated first by leaving it exposed to the cold temperatures overnight and disposing of the layer of ice that formed on top. Following that, the sap was transported by sled to large fires where it was boiled in clay pots to produce maple syrup.
Often, multiple pots were used in conjunction, with the liquid being transferred between them as it grew more concentrated. Contrary to popular belief, syrup was not produced by dropping heated stones into wooden bowls. In the early stages of European colonization in northeastern North America, local Indigenous peoples showed the arriving colonists how to tap the trunks of certain types of maples during the spring thaw to harvest the sap. Prior to the 19th century, processed maple sap was used primarily as a source of concentrated sugar, in both liquid and crystallized-solid form, as cane sugar had to be imported from the West Indies.
Maple sugaring parties typically began to operate at the start of the spring thaw in regions of woodland with sufficiently large numbers of maples. The buckets were commonly made by cutting cylindrical segments from a large tree trunk and then hollowing out each segment's core from one end of the cylinder, creating a seamless, watertight container.
The specific weather conditions of the thaw period were, and still are, critical in determining the length of the sugaring season. The boiling process was very time-consuming. The harvested sap was transported back to the party's base camp, where it was then poured into large vessels usually made from metal and boiled to achieve the desired consistency. Around the time of the American Civil War — , syrup makers started using large, flat sheet metal pans as they were more efficient for boiling than heavy, rounded iron kettles, because of a greater surface area for evaporation.
The first evaporator, used to heat and concentrate sap, was patented in In , an evaporator was developed that featured two pans and a metal arch or firebox, which greatly decreased boiling time.
Some producers also added a finishing pan, a separate batch evaporator, as a final stage in the evaporation process. Buckets began to be replaced with plastic bags, which allowed people to see at a distance how much sap had been collected.
Syrup producers also began using tractors to haul vats of sap from the trees being tapped the sugarbush to the evaporator. Some producers adopted motor-powered tappers and metal tubing systems to convey sap from the tree to a central collection container, but these techniques were not widely used. A large number of technological changes took place during the s.
Plastic tubing systems that had been experimental since the early part of the century were perfected, and the sap came directly from the tree to the evaporator house. Producers developed reverse-osmosis machines to take a portion of water out of the sap before it was boiled, increasing processing efficiency. Improvements in tubing and vacuum pumps, new filtering techniques, "supercharged" preheaters, and better storage containers have since been developed.
Research continues on pest control and improved woodlot management. Open pan evaporation methods have been streamlined since colonial days, but remain basically unchanged. Sap must first be collected and boiled down to obtain syrup. Maple syrup is made by boiling between 20 and 50 volumes of sap depending on its concentration over an open fire until 1 volume of syrup is obtained, usually at a temperature 4.
As the boiling point of water varies with changes in air pressure the correct value for pure water is determined at the place where the syrup is being produced, each time evaporation is begun and periodically throughout the day. Boiling the syrup is a tightly controlled process, which ensures appropriate sugar content. Syrup boiled too long will eventually crystallize, whereas under-boiled syrup will be watery, and will quickly spoil.
In addition to open pan evaporation methods, many large producers use the more fuel efficient reverse osmosis procedure to separate the water from the sap. The higher the sugar content of the sap, the smaller the volume of sap is needed to obtain the same amount of syrup. To yield 1 unit of syrup, sap at 1. The containers are turned over after being sealed to sterilize the cap with the hot syrup. Packages can be made of metal, glass, or coated plastic, depending on volume and target market.
Off-flavours can sometimes develop during the production of maple syrup, resulting from contaminants in the boiling apparatus such as disinfectants , microorganisms , fermentation products, metallic can flavours, and "buddy sap", an off-flavour occurring late in the syrup season when tree budding has begun. Maple syrup production is centred in northeastern North America; however, given the correct weather conditions, it can be made wherever suitable species of maple trees grow, such as New Zealand, where there are efforts to establish commercial production.
A maple syrup production farm is called a " sugarbush ". Maples are usually tapped beginning at 30 to 40 years of age. Each tree can support between one and three taps, depending on its trunk diameter. The average maple tree will produce 35 to 50 litres 9. Tap seasons typically happen during late winter and spring and usually last for four to eight weeks, though the exact dates depends on the weather, location, and climate.
During the day, starch stored in the roots for the winter rises through the trunk as sugary sap, allowing it to be tapped. Maples can continue to be tapped for sap until they are over years old. Until the s, the United States produced most of the world's maple syrup. In , Quebec accounts for As of , Quebec had some 7, producers working with 13, farmers, collectively making over 30 million litres 8 million US gallons of syrup. The Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Saskatchewan produce maple syrup using the sap of the box elder or Manitoba maple Acer negundo.
British Columbia is home to a growing maple sugar industry using sap from the bigleaf maple , which is native to the West Coast of the United States and Canada. The province of Quebec is by far the largest producer, representing Maple syrup and maple sugar products are made by boiling down the sap of maple trees. Maple curing was a food preservation method practised by the Anishinaabe that allowed communities to keep food stores for winter months when food was scarce.
Techniques varied, but Indigenous peoples tapped trees by cutting v-shaped patterns into the bark or by inserting basswood or willow tubes into the tree. Birch -bark bowls were placed beneath the tap to catch the watery sap in early spring, when sap was made into syrup using different methods.
Some left the sap out in the cold and threw away the frozen water that separated from the sugary syrup. Others boiled the sap down to syrup by adding hot rocks to birch-bark pots or boiled the sap in clay or metal kettles over a fire. French settlers learned from the Indigenous peoples how to tap trees to obtain sap and how to boil it to reduce it to sweet syrup or sugar slabs to be stored for later use.
Maple sugar production began among settlers in the late s and early s. Colonists drilled holes into maples and fitted them with wooden spouts through which sap flowed and was collected in hollowed-out logs. Over time, innovations in evaporation methods decreased the amount of time it took to boil down the sap. Improvements were also made in the way sap was tapped and transported from trees to the sugar shack. In the fall, the sugar maple lays down concentrated sugars in the rays of the tree groups of cells that carry and store nutrients.
These sugars mature during winter and are harvested while the frost is still in the ground. The clear sap rushes out of these taps and into the collection system. As pressure in the tree drops during the day, the sap flow slows down and stops. While most of the sweet stuff hails from New Brunswick, Ontario and Quebec, maple syrup festivals abound across the region, offering fun for the whole family. So pack up your RV and hit the road to some of the best maple syrup festivals in all of Canada.
Maple syrup is a Canadian tradition that stems back to the original inhabitants of the land. But how is the sweet treat actually made? The syrup comes from maple trees; the sugar maple is an especially prolific species. Towns and cities across Canada celebrate the syrup with contests, games, music, food and fun for the whole family.
No comments:
Post a Comment