Maple syrup

A sugarshack where sap is boiled down to maple syrup.

Maple syrup is a sweetener made from the sap of maple trees. It is most often eaten with pancakes or waffles, but is also put on everything from ice-cream to corn bread. It is also used as an ingredient in baking or in preparing desserts.

Production

A bottle of maple syrup produced in Quebec.

Maple syrup comes from eastern Canada, particularly Quebec, and the northern United States, especially New England, New York State and the Great Lake states. It is made as far south as Virginia and as far west as Indiana and Minnesota. Sixteen states and 4 Canadian provinces produce maple syrup. However, it can be made wherever maples grow. Most maple trees, even boxelders, can be used as a source of sap, but the sugar maple (Acer saccharum) and black maple (A. nigrum) are the most favored. A maple syrup production farm is called a sugarbush or the sugarwoods. Sap is boiled in a "sugar shanty", "sugar shack", "sugarhouse" or "cabane à sucre", a building which is louvered at the top to vent the steam from the boiling maple sap. These buildings are sometimes called a "sugar camp", a holdover from Colonial days when farmers actually went to the woods and "camped" there while making maple syrup.

Canada produces more than three-quarters of the world's maple syrup, with 10,300 maple syrup producers using more than 33,680,000 taps.[1] The province of Quebec is by far the world's largest producer, with 15,600,000 litres in 2001 - several times as much as all U.S. production combined. The provinces of Ontario and New Brunswick produce much smaller amounts, about 1,040,000 litres and 670,000 litres respectively (2002). Nova Scotia also produces a small amount of syrup. Eighty percent of Canada's maple syrup exports in 2002 went to the U.S.

In Quebec, the process has become part of the culture, and city folk often go to the cabanes à sucre in early spring, where rustic meals are served with maple syrup-based products. Tire sur la neige, also known as "sugar on snow," is a seasonal treat of thickened hot syrup poured onto fresh snow then eaten off sticks, like taffy, as it quickly cools. Owing to the sugar maple tree's predominance in south-eastern Canada (where European settlement of what would become Canada began), its leaf has come to symbolize the country, and is depicted on its flag.

Traditionally, maple syrup was harvested by tapping a maple tree and then letting the sap run into a bucket; more advanced methods have, however, since superseded this.

In the U.S. in 2004, Vermont produced 1,900,000 litres of real maple syrup, about a third of the U.S. production. Maine and New York state, with about 19 % and 17 % each, were next in line. At least 13 U.S. states had some maple syrup production, ranging as far south as Virginia and as far west as Minnesota. About 7 million U.S. taps in 2004 to produce 1,507,000 gallons (5,705,000 L) of syrup.[2]

Production is concentrated in February, March and April, depending on local weather conditions. To make the syrup, holes are bored into the maple trees and hollow tubes termed spiles or spouts are inserted. These drip the sap into buckets or into plastic pipes. Modern use of plastic tubing with a partial vacuum has enabled increased production. A new hole must be drilled each year, as the old hole will produce sap for only one season due to the natural healing process of the tree, called walling-off.

Initially the sap has a very low concentration of sugars, typically below 2.5%. The sap may or may not be first concentrated using reverse osmosis. In this process up to 75 % of the water is removed; the concentrate still has only about 8 % sugar. The sap is fed automatically from the storage tank through a valve to a flat stainless steel pan to boil it down until it forms a sweet syrup. The sap/syrup flows among the baffles of the pan, gradually becoming sweeter as it flows, and is drawn off when it is a minimum 66% sugar content. The process is slow, because most of the water has to boil out of the sap before it is the right consistency. It takes approximately 40 litres of sap to make one litre of maple syrup, and a mature sugar maple produces about 40 liters (10 gallons) of sap during the 4-6 week sugaring season, although this varies greatly with trees and weather. In general, trees are not tapped until they have a diameter of 25 centimeters (10 inches) at chest-height; in New England, that usually means the tree is at least 40 years old.

A wood-fired maple sugaring evaporator.

A very small amount of defoamer is added during the reduction process to reduce the tendency of the boiling sap to boil up and over the sides of the pan. The traditional fuel for boiling was firewood, but fuel oil, or natural or bottled gas is generally used today for more control of the fire. Overheating can scorch the syrup, and a pan boiled dry can burn almost explosively.

The earliest sap runs typically make the lightest color syrup. The best "sugaring" weather is clear, with days above freezing and nights below freezing. It is the alternating temperatures above and below the freezing point that cause the sap to flow from the trees. Syrup made late in the season, when there are very few night-time freezes, is dark, mostly due to microbial action. Eventually an objectionable flavor develops called "buddy", which is due to metabolic processes within the tree. The whole process of sap collection and processing must be done as quickly as possible. Too much time in storage can induce fermentation in the sap, and too much time boiling can also reduce quality. Usually the whole process from any batch of sap finishes in syrup within just a few hours.

Maple syrup is sometimes boiled down further to make maple sugar, a hard candy usually sold in pressed blocks, and maple toffee (similar to taffy), which may be poured on snow to harden it for eating - hence the name "sugar on snow," heard in New England. Intermediate levels of boiling can also be used to create various intermediate products, including maple cream (less hard and granular than maple sugar) and maple butter (creamy, with a consistency slightly less thick than peanut butter).

Grades

In the United States, maple syrup is divided into two major grades named Grade A and Grade B. Grade A is further broken down into three subgrades; Grade A Light Amber (sometimes known as Fancy), Grade A Medium Amber, and Grade A Dark Amber. Grade B is darker than Grade A Dark Amber.

The grades roughly correspond to what point in the season the syrup was made. Grade A Light Amber is early season syrup, while Grade B is late season syrup. Typically Grade A (especially Grade A Light Amber) has a milder, sweeter flavor than Grade B, which is primarily used for cooking and baking.

In Canada, there are three grades containing several colour classes, ranging from Canada #1 (including Extra light, Light, and Medium) through #2 (Amber) and finally #3 (Dark). A typical year's yield will include about 25-30% of each of the #1 colours, 10% Amber, and 2% Dark.

A non-table grade of syrup called "commercial" is also produced. This is very dark, with a very strong flavor, sometimes also with off-flavors (metabolism, buddy, ferment). Commercial maple syrup is generally used as a flavoring agent in other products.

Use

Two taps in a maple tree, using plastic tubing for sap collection.

Maple syrup and its artificial imitations are the preferred toppings for crêpes, pancakes, waffles, and French toast in North America.Maple syrup can also be used for a variety of uses, including: biscuits, fresh donuts, fried dough, fritters, ice cream, hot cereal, and fresh fruit (especially grapefruit).

It is also used as sweetener for apple sauce, baked beans, candied sweet potatoes, winter squash, cakes, pies, breads, fudge and other candy, milkshakes, tea, coffee and hot toddys.

Imitation maple syrup

Most "maple-flavored" syrups on the market today in the United States are imitation maple syrups (table syrups), usually with little (for advertising purposes) or no real maple content. They are usually thickened far beyond the viscosity of real maple syrup, as well. They are less expensive than real maple syrup. US labeling laws prohibit these products from being labeled "Maple Syrup", many simply calling the imitation "Syrup" or "Pancake Syrup". Québécois often refer to these cheap imitations as Sirop de poteau ("Pole Syrup"), implying the syrup has been made by tapping telephone poles. Aunt Jemima is one of the best-selling imitation syrups.

See also

* Birch syrup

External links

*"All About Maple Sugaring" by the Massachusetts Maple Producers Association
*"Pure Pennsylvania Maple Syrup": A Photo Essay
*Elmira Maple Syrup Festival
*Geauga County (Ohio) Maple Festival
*"A Sugarbush Tale": Short documentary about small-scale maple-syrup production in Vermont
*North American Maple Syrup Producers Manual
*Cooking For Engineers - Kitchen Notes: Maple Syrup Grades
*The Canadian Encyclopedia: Maple Sugar Industry