| The History Project |
Maple Syrup |
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I'm doing my report on Maple Syrup. Maple Syrup is a sweet thick liquid obtained from the sap of rock or hard maple trees. New York and Vermont are the leading maple syrup producers more maple syrup in the entire United States. The Canadian province of Quebec producers more maple syrup then all States together. Many Vermonts use real maple syrup on their pancakes and waffles, but many people prefer to use an artifical product made from combination of maple syrup sugar cane syrup and corn syrup. Many syrup producers also use the syrup to make maple sugar,maple butter and soft maple candy. Syrup is classified by color changing from light amber and fancey to the darkest amber called commercial.All syrup have the same food value but differ in flaver and color. Producers begin to collect sap in late winter or early spring. Warm days and cold nights are the ideal conditions needed for sap to run. Producers use a couple of methods to collect sap. The older method a producer drills holes into a tree and drives a metal spout into the hole. The sap runs through the spout into a bucket hangin on a tree. When the buckets are filled withn sap they are then empted into a larger container and then taken by sled or a wagon to the sugar house. Where it is boiled and processed. In modern day sugaring a plastic tube is used. The sap runs through the plastic tube into a pipeline that carreis the sap directly to the sugar house. The modern method of collecting sap requires less time and labor. The sap is boiled in a long shallow pan called an evaperated. As it boils the color and flavor develops and most of the water evaporates. Indians who lived near the great lakes and St Lawrance river produced maple sugar and syrup long before white explorers came to North America. Early French and English explorers wrote of this "sweet water" that the Indians drew from trees and heated to make maple products. During 1700's and 1800's maple sugar was ranked as an important food item. People in maple sugar producing areas traded it for various foods and services. Gradually white sugar cane became less expensive than maple sugar. By the late 1800's sugar cane replaced maple sugar for most producers. At about that time food manufactures developed the blend of maple syrup and other syrup that became ''Maple Syrup". |
| by Ben Paquin |
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Sources: The World Encyclopedia |