Maple syrup is not living up to its vast - American Idle

Art Culinaire, Fall, 2003

MAPLE SYRUP IS NOT LIVING UP TO ITS VAST culinary potential. It is stuck in the breakfast rut and can't seem to move on to bigger and better things. This is not to say that the traditional syrup-drenched pancake in all its Sunday brunch glory is not worthy of respect; however, maple syrup has a rich history that goes far beyond its reputation as a sticky-sweet substance poured over cooked batter, Maple syrup had a major impact on the early social structure of North America and helped shape an entire way of life in the Northeast. It acted as the main sweetener in Now England cuisine, and its labor-intensive production became a communal activity that encouraged social interaction.

Maple syrup is a true American food. Produced and consumed predominantly within our shores, this literal liquid gold is a culinary treasure native to North America. Even the maple leaf itself has become a North American icon, featured boldly on the Canadian flag, and also lends its name to Toronto's famous hockey team. In addition, the venerable maple represents New York in its role as the official state tree of the Empire State.

DAMN YANKEES

MAPLE SYRUP has made a little-known contribution to American history. This simple product is responsible for meeting an important survival need of Native Americans: without maple syrup, or Sinzibuckwud (meaning drawn from wood), they would have had difficulty maintaining proper sugar levels in their diet. Maple syrup was not only the main sweetener in the cuisine of Native Americans, hut it actually comprised roughly twelve percent of their total food intake. When the colonists arrived, they, too, were sustained by maple syrup due to the scarceness of white sugar. It quickly became the primary sweetener in the Northeast. Later on, many immigrants were drawn to the United States, enticed by the potential revenue generated by the sale of maple syrup. The financial rewards of "growing sugar" in one's own hack yard spread quickly by word of mouth. In addition, because white cane sugar was produced by black slave labor in the South, during the Civil War Northerners ate maple sugar as a form of protest: Yankees sweetened their food solely with maple syrup, in order to show their displeasure with the Southern system. To this day, maple syrup remains a major regional product in North America.

Maple syrup made its mark not only on American history, but on society as well. During maple syrup tapping season, much of the early Northeastern social structure revolved around syrup production. Most of the sugar boiling took place in simple buildings called "sugar shacks." Though the original sugar shacks were little more than canopies of tree branches sheltering equipment used to boil the sap, they eventually evolved into meeting places where people could get together and share a traditional meal. For a community as spread out as Colonial New England, maple tapping allowed social interaction between people who might not have normally come in contact with each other. Though the number of maple syrup producers has decreased in recent years, tapping still creates a deep feeling of camaraderie among those who carry on the tradition.

DRAWN FROM THE WOOD

THE NATIVE Americans were the first to master maple syrup, production, known for being a complicated and labor-intensive process. According to Native American legend, the gods deliberately created maple syrup with a high water content to keep man from getting lazy. Folklore tells us that maple syrup originally flowed, ready to eat, directly from the trees. When a young spirit discovered this fact, she decided that it was too easy for humans to acquire a sweetener for their toed and that they should have to work harder for it. According to legend, she climbed to the top of a maple tree and poured a bucket of water into the center, diluting the syrup inside. Ever since, people have had to toil to make syrup from the watery sap. Whether due to a god's decree or the fact that syrup can't physically flow through the wood of a tree, those who seek out this North American staple must tinker a bit with Mother Nature.

The first step in making maple syrup is extracting the sap from the tree. This procedure is called tapping. The original Native American tap was simply a V-shaped incision made with a tomahawk, and it allowed the sap to flow down into a bowl. When European settlers arrived, they introduced metal tools to the mix, updating the procedure to more closely resemble the way it is done today. First, a hole is drilled into the trunk of the maple tree and then a spout or tap is inserted. A bucket is hung underneath the spout and a lid is placed over the top to keep out falling debris. As the sap flows through the tree, it slowly collects in the tap and drips down into the bucket. Modern industry has also introduced plastic tubing and vacuum pumps to siphon the sap directly to a single central location for further processing.

The cause of the sap run falls somewhere between science and magic. Throughout the summer the leaves produce sugar through photosynthesis. This sugar is stored in the wood of the tree during the winter and converted into sap. When the weather starts to warm up, the temperature in the Northeast rises above freezing during the day and drops below freezing at night. This creates pressure in the tree's trunk, which forces the sap out of the tree and into the taps. A healthy maple tree can produce approximately ten to twenty gallons of sap in a single season, which can last anywhere from days to weeks, depending on the weather. Most types of maple trees will produce useable sap; however, due to the higher sugar content of its sap, the most commonly used variety for maple syrup is the North American sugar maple.