specialities of the east of Canada (predominantly Quebec) and the north-east of the USA, are both produced by boiling down the sap of maple trees, notably the N. American sugar maple (Acer saccharum) and the black maple (A. nigrum). The process produces syrup first, while the sugar needs further boiling down. Up to the latter part of the 19th century, the sugar was the primary product. However, with the introduction of cheap cane sugar, demand switched to the syrup and is now almost exclusively for it. These sequences may be somewhat obscured by the traditional terminology in which ‘sugar’, ‘sugar-tree’, ‘sugar-house’, and ‘sugaring off’ are all terms which have tended to be applied to production of both syrup and sugar. Canada produces 95% of the world output.
One tree, tapped at the right time of year (late winter/early spring), can produce several gallons of sap annually and does not seem to be harmed by the loss. This was well known to the Indians of NE America. Their original method of concentrating sap into syrup was to heat it with hot stones to evaporate some of the water. Another method was to leave the sap to freeze; the water would freeze to pure ice, leaving a sugar concentrate.
Early European settlers adopted the process, but found less cumbrous methods. They also found that the sap could be boiled down sufficiently to crystallize to a sticky fondant-like sugar which would set in moulds. (It is impossible to make dry sugar crystals because the sugar consists partly of dextrose and fructose, which are highly reluctant to crystallize.)
Maple syrup has a wonderful flavour, and is ideal for pouring over waffles and for use as a flavouring for fudge and ice cream. Since it is inevitably expensive, because of the low yield from the sap (40 gallons are needed for one gallon of syrup) and the laborious production process, imitations are sold, e.g. cheap corn syrup with just a tiny proportion of maple syrup added to give ‘maple-flavoured syrup’. Nothing of this sort can match the real thing, and true maple syrup of N. American origin bears a controlled maple leaf mark as protection and guarantee.
Alan Davidson was a distinguished author and publisher, and one of the world's best-known writers on fish and fish cookery. In 1975 he retired early from the diplomatic service—after serving in, among other places, Washington, Egypt, Tunisia, and Laos, where he was British Ambassador—to pursue a fruitful second career as a food historian and food writer extraordinaire. Among his popular books are Seafood of South-East Asia, North Atlantic Seafood, and Mediterranean Seafood. In 2003, shortly before his death, he was awarded the Erasmus Prize for his contribution to European culture.
Brown, Bonnie, and Segal, David (1981), ‘Sugaring Off’, in National and Regional Styles of Cookery, Oxford Symposium on Food History 1981, London: Prospect Books.
Duncan, Dorothy (1993), ‘Maple Magic’, in Walker (1993).
Nearing, Helen, and Nearing, Scott (1950), The Maple Sugar Book, New York: John Day.
