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by Ken W. Watson Note: This articles first appeared in the Spring 2001 edition of Rideau Reflections, the newsletter of the Friends of the Rideau.
The origin of the discovery of maple syrup is unknown. Native Americans were well aware of the sweet nature of sap from trees such as maple and birch. An Algonquin legend states that a chief struck a tree with his axe one day. His wife saw the tree wound dripping sap, collected it in a wooden bowl and used the sap to boil meat for dinner. They were amazed at the sweetness of the meat and learned that they could boil down the sap to make sugar. The process of sugar making was long and arduous and was much improved after the arrival of Europeans, who introduced Native Americans to iron pots. Maple sugar making remained a cottage industry until the late 1700s when the Quakers advocated the manufacturing of maple sugar as an alternative to West Indian cane sugar produced using slave labour. By the early 1800s, maple sugar was selling for about half the price of cane sugar and production was increasing. Production peaked in the U.S. in 1860.  It was in the mid 1800s that several technological changes were introduced. The invention of the tin can allowed increased production of maple syrup. Prior to this, most sap was boiled down to make cakes of maple sugar since maple syrup did not keep well. Metal spiles and metal sap pails were introduced in the 1860s. The first commercial evaporator was invented by a Canadian in about 1864, taking concepts from sorghum (molasses) evaporators and applying them to maple syrup production. In 1959 the use of plastic piping to collect sap was introduced. It took another twenty years to work the kinks out, but now most commercial operations use plastic piping for sap collection. In the late 1970s reverse osmosis technology was introduced to help pre-concentrate the sap prior to boiling. There is some dispute whether this produces as good a quality syrup as a pure boiling process and many operations continue to use boiling from start to finish. The most recent technological innovation has been the introduction of smaller diameter spiles and tubing, with the sap being drawn by use of a vacuum system. In the Rideau region, it is usually mid-March that signals the beginning of the sap run. A tree’s sap pump is activated by warm days and cool nights, a temperature range of –5oC at night going to +5oC during the day is ideal. During the four to six week season, there will generally be 6 to 10 good sap running days. Although several types of trees contain sap, the two most common trees to tap are the sugar maple and the black maple. Sap normally contains from 2% to 3% sugar and it takes about 40 litres of sap to make 1 litre of syrup. A single tree will produce about 40 to 50 litres of sap in a season. A maple tree must be at least a foot (30 cm) in diameter (about 40 years old) before it can first be tapped. Tapping if done properly doesn’t hurt the tree, many trees have been tapped for 100 years or more. Taping will draw about 10% of the tree’s total sap production. A small hole is drilled into the tree and a spile (spout) inserted. In small operations a bucket is hung from the spile, in larger operations tubing is attached to the end of the spile. On a good day, the sap flow will be at a rate of about 175 drops per minute in the morning, slowing down to 10 drops per minute in the afternoon.
Maple syrup is divided into three grades based on colour; light, medium and dark. The light is officially the best grade, although the medium and dark grades generally have a stronger maple flavour. Part of the reason for the grading is to avoid confusion with the end of season syrup, which is darker with more of a caramel flavour. The end of the season is signalled by the budding of the maple trees. Chemicals introduced into the sap by the tree to induce budding produce an off-flavour in the sap. It signals that the sap run is over and spring has truly arrived. In the Rideau region there are dozens of “sugar shacks” in operation, all of which welcome visitors. These are located throughout the Rideau Corridor. Some of the larger operations include Gibbons Family Farm near Frankville, Leggett’s near Crosby, Oliver’s and Coutts’ near Rideau Ferry, and Wheelers near Maberly. In addition, several communities and organizations host maple syrup festivals, the most famous of which is perhaps the Delta Maple Syrup Festival, usually held on the second weekend in April. So, when the end of March rolls around, stop pining for the ice to break up and head out to a sugar shack to see how maple syrup is made and to enjoy that sweet taste of spring. For more information, have a look on the web for the Southern Rideau Maple Syrup Tour: www.rideau-info.com/canal/driving/maple-syrup.html and for the northern Rideau area have a look at: www.perth.igs.net/~county/tourism/lanacc.htm and follow the link for “Maple Syrup Producers”. Maple Syrup Page | ||||||
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