December 17, Maple Syrup Day

Maple syrup is an indigenous North American product

It’s all natural and naturally organic. It needs no additives. It’s much imitated, but as they say, rarely duplicated.

We are talking Maple Syrup. You’ll find a lot of look-alikes on your store shelves. The majority of syrups today are ‘maple flavored’ but pure Maple syrup is still an original North American product. Quebec produces 75 percent of the world’s total supply, with Vermont as the most active of 17 U.S. states.

Maple syrup is not just made from the sap of the Sugar Maple; it actually is the sap of the tree.

Europeans in North America first learned to tap old Sugar Maple trees from native Americans. Although the origins of the ancient custom of tapping maples is unknown, European colonists were actively collecting maple sap in the 1600s. Maple sap cultivation got a boost with the passage of the 1764 Sugar Act that imposed high tariffs on imported sugar.

Nothing is added to the sap to make maple syrup. The sap is simply boiled down or evaporated until it becomes thick and sweet.

After sugar maple trees reach maturity in 30 years, they can be tapped every year. Many have been tapped for 100 years. Each tap produces 10-12 gallons of sap each spring. It takes 30-50 gallons of sap to make one gallon of syrup.

Tapping maple trees does create a wound that the tree must spend energy to heal. Syrup producers have found that the smaller the tap, the easier it is for trees to heal over the wound in a single season. With modern maintenance and techniques trees thrive, even when tapped up to 70 years.