No one is really sure just how long people have been practicing
the
art and science of making a most wonderful product from the sap
of
a tree. However, there are two basic schools of thought about
the
origin of maple syrup.
The first group identifies with Native American legend and
lore
that maple syrup and maple sugar was being made before
recorded
history. Native Americans were the first to discover
'sinzibuckwud', the Algonquin (a Native American tribe) word
for
maple syrup, meaning literally 'drawn from wood'.
Before the advent of Europeans, the Natives used clay pots
to
boil maple sap over simple fires protected only by a roof of
tree
branches. This was the first version of the sugar shack. Over
the
years, this evolved to the point where the sugar shack is not
only
a place where maple syrup is produced, but also a gathering
place
where a traditional meal can be enjoyed.
The first white settlers and fur traders introduced wooden
buckets to the process, as well as iron and copper kettles. In
the
early days of colonization, it was the Natives who showed
French
settlers how to tap the trunk of a tree at the outset of
spring,
harvest the sap and boil it to evaporate some of the water.
This
custom quickly became an integral part of colony life and
during
the 17th and 18th centuries, syrup was a major source of high
quality pure sugar. Later, however, they would learn to bore
holes
in the trees and hang their buckets on home-made spouts.
Maple Sugar production was especially important due to the
fact
that other types of sugar were hard to find and expensive. It
was
as common on the table as salt is today.
Early maple syrup was made by boiling 40 gallons of sap over
an
open fire until you had one gallon of syrup. This was both
time
consuming and labor intensive, especially considering that the
sap
needed to be hauled to the fire in the first place.
In more recent times some people have been tapping the
Birch
tree. As we don’t have many Maple trees in Labrador I
am
trying to tap a birch, have a look and a taste and let me know
what
you think.