Maple Syrup

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maple syrup is a sweetener made from the sap of maple trees. Sucrose is the most prevalent sugar in maple syrup. It is commonly used on pancakes, waffles, and the traditional Canadian French toast. It was originally collected and used by Native Americans and was later adopted by European settlers. Maple syrup originates in northeastern North America, and is the traditional Canadian souvenir many tourists look for when traveling in Canada.

Given the correct weather conditions though, it can be made wherever maple trees grow. The type of maple species most commonly used are the sugar maple and the black maple. A maple syrup production farm is called a sugar bush or the sugarwoods. Sap is boiled in a “sugar house” (also known as a “sugar shack” or cabane à sucre, a place where many elementary and High Schools take outings), a building which is louvered at the top to vent the steam from the boiling sap.

Canada makes more than 80% of the world’s maple syrup, and it produces about 7 million US gallons in 2005. The vast majority of this comes from Quebec: this province is by far the world’s largest producer, with about 75% of the world production. Other Canadian provinces like Ontario, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick produce maple syrup, but in smaller quantities.

Production is concentrated in February, March, and April, depending on local weather conditions. Ideal conditions for maple syrup production are freezing nights and warm days are needed in order to induce sap flows. Water uptake from the soil in maple trees is sparked by fluctuations in temperatures, and temperatures above freezing cause a stem pressure to develop, which, along with gravity, causes sap to flow out of small pores in the tree. To collect the sap, holes are bored and inserted into the maple. Modern use of plastic tubing with a partial vacuum has enabled increased production. A hole must be drilled in a new location each year, as the old hole will produce sap for only one season due to the natural healing process of the tree, called walling-off. Maple sap is collected from the buckets and taken to the sugar house to be processed.

During the processing of the syrup, commonly referred to as sugaring-off, the sap is fed automatically from a storage tank through a valve into a flat pan called an evaporator. The sap boils down until only a thick, honey-like syrup is left. The process of sugaring-off takes a long time because a large quantity of water must be separated from the syrup through boiling. A sugar maple tree mature enough to produce maple syrup produces about 40 liters of sap throughout the sugaring-off season.

Relatively recently, some maple-sugar producers started using a process commonly known as reverse osmosis to separate the sap and the water before being further boiled down to syrup. This process is not only more efficient in terms of time and production, but also diminishes microbial contamination.

Another by-product of maple syrup is maple sugar, a brown powdery candy that is usually compressed into blocks in order to make maple taffy, a type of sweet brown candy. Sometimes producers chose to make maple butter, a sweet creamy butter not unlike peanut butter―without the nuttiness, of course!

Whether slathered on pancakes, used in baking, or simply put in tea or eaten by the spoonful to remedy a sore throat, you haven’t had a “taste” of Canada until you’ve tried maple syrup.

（责编：张楚武）