Maple Syrup the Natural Sweetener
By: Ken Asselin,
Michigan Maple Syrup
It is the Native Americans that have been credited as the first to
realize that the sap oozing from a maple tree could be made into
maple syrup. Most legends probably have been modified over the
years, but discovering maple syrup most likely was accidental.
Over the years they learned they could gradually
reduce the sap to syrup by continually refreezing it, discarding the
ice, and stating over again. They could store up to 30 pounds of
maple sugar in containers made of birch bark.
Eventually a few of the Native American tribes began to cook the
maple sap over fire. The tribal women would migrate to the maple
groves or “sugar bushes” during early spring to process the maple
syrup. Then troughs were made in which they collected the sap and
brought it to the fire. The sap was cooked by adding heated stones.
Newly heated stones would be added while removing older cooler
stones to be reheated. Most early Native Americans would rather use
sugar over salt and used maple syrup or sugar on their meat and
fish.
Early settlers imitated the Native American ways
to make their maple syrup. They boiled the sap over an open fire
until it reduced down to syrup. It takes about 40 gallons of sap to
make 1 gallon of syrup, which was a very labor intensive and time
consuming operation. Very little changed for the next two hundred
years, until during the civil war the tin can was invented. It
didn’t take long until syrup makers discovered that a large flat
sheet of metal could make a much more efficient pan to boil maple
sap than the previously used heavy rounded iron kettle.
Most original syrup makers were dairy farmers who
only made maple syrup and sugar for their own consumption, or a
little extra income during the off season. They were always looking
for a more efficient and easier way to make their syrup. Many
ingenious ideas and processes evolved over the years, but for the
most part the accepted methods stayed the same for another century.
In the 1960’s such a labor intensive and time consuming process made
it impossible for small farmers to sustain themselves. They could
not afford to hire the large number of people required to tap the
trees and haul the small buckets to the evaporator house.
Another surge of technological breakthroughs
occurred during the crunch of the 1970’s. Tubing systems were
developed, and vacuum pumps added to bring the sap directly to the
evaporator house from the trees. Pre-heaters that “recycle” heat
which previously was lost were developed, and reverse-osmosis
filters that remove a portion of the water out of the sap before it
is boiled were developed.
Technological developments continue today with new
filtering techniques, better tubing, “supercharged” pre-heaters, and
improved storage containers.
Ken Asselin is webmaster for the Selections Guide
series of information and shopping websites. You can visit his
Michigan Maple Syrup website at:
http://www.michigan-maple-syrup.com |
