Tim Herd - Maple Sugar: From Sap to Syrup: The History, Lore, and How-To Behind This Sweet Treat

MAPLE SUGAR

FROM SAP TO SYRUP

THE HISTORY, LORE, AND HOW-TO

BEHIND THIS SWEET TREAT

TIM HERD

TO WALT JONES AND BOB SHAY,
who hired me as a green (read: totally inexperienced) naturalist; trained me in natural history and environmental education; encouraged me in my professional career; and for many years have proven invaluable as mentors, colleagues, and friends.

The mission of Storey Publishing is to serve our customers by
publishing practical information that encourages
personal independence in harmony with the environment.

Edited by Lisa H. Hiley and Deborah Burns
Art direction and book design by Alethea Morrison

Front cover photography by Colin Erricson/StockFood Munich (bottom left), Paul Poplis Photography, Inc/StockFood (bottom right and inside front flap)

Back cover photography by GAP Photos/Julie Dansereau (middle), Stphane Groleau/Alamy (bottom right), Lonely Planet Images/Alamy (bottom left), Vespasian/Alamy (top)

Inside cover photography by Plainpicture/Glasshouse Images (front and back)

Interior photography credits appear on

Illustrations by Beverly Duncan

Indexed by Nancy D. Wood

2010 by Tim Herd

Thanks to South Face Farm, Ashfield, Massachusetts, for sharing their maple ephemera collection.

All rights reserved. bNo part of this book may be reproduced without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages or reproduce illustrations in a review with appropriate credits; nor may any part of this book be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or other without written permission from the publisher.

The information in this book is true and complete to the best of our knowledge. All recommendations are made without guarantee on the part of the author or Storey Publishing. The author and publisher disclaim any liability in connection with the use of this information.

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Printed in China by Toppan Leefung Printing Ltd.
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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA

Herd, Tim.
Maple sugar / by Tim Herd.
p. cm.
Includes index.
ISBN 978-1-60342-735-7 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Maple sugar. I. Title.
TP395.H47 2011
641.3364dc22

2010043059

IN NORTHEASTERN NORTH AMERICA THRIVES A TREE UNRIVALED in beauty, form, and function. Its stout trunk and graceful branches produce fine, close-grained wood that is perfect for tools, furniture, and firewood. Its spreading crown, thickly draped in hand-shaped leaves, offers a vivid palette of changing colors to the sky and a sheltering security to numerous woodland creatures. And from its very depth issues a sweet sap that forms the sole ingredient of one of the worlds most appealing natural delicacies.

Which tree is this, you may be asking? Why, the magnificent maple! The choice sweetness of a maple is revealed in the intricate relationship of the trees living systems. This is a sliver of its mystery: that an awesomely complex living network of woody beings and basic elements, swirling in the eternal cycle of growth and stasis, offers up such a tasty and tangible product of its majestic spirit.

I invite you to discover more of the remarkable qualities and special gifts of this family of trees. Follow the footsteps of both bygone and present sugarers and discover the easy step-by-step process as you learn the lore, tap the trees, secure the sap, separate the sugar, and taste the treat. This is one book with which you can truly enjoy the fruits of your labor. Now thats a sweet deal!

In the early days of the world, life was much easier for man. Gluskap, the Creator, saw to it that the lives of his People were very good, with plenty of food to hunt, gather, and grow. Even the maple tree flowed year-round with sap as sweet and thick as honey.

In those days, Gluskap traveled from village to village to keep an eye on the People. One day he discovered an abandoned village. The houses were in disrepair, the fields were overgrown, the cooking fires had gone cold; he could find no one gathering food, no one preparing to hunt, no dogs barking, and no children playing.

He wondered and wandered about until he heard a strange sound coming from the forest. As he approached, he could tell that it was the sound of many people moaning. But the moaning he heard was not from pain it was from pleasure! He searched until he found the people of the village in a large stand of beautiful maples, lying at the bases of the trees, and letting the sweet syrup drip into their open mouths.

The maple syrup had fattened them up so much and made them so lazy that they could do nothing but lie about in the grove. Gluskap scolded them to get up, return to their village, rekindle their fires, and tend to their gardens. But the People did not listen. They were content and refused to move.

Highly disturbed by their inactivity, he flew to the lake, filled a bark container with water, returned to the woods, and poured it over the trees to dilute the syrup. Some say he did this thirty times, as many as the days between moons. After a while the People complained that the sap was no longer thick and sweet.

Now, get up! Gluskap cried, and live and work! Because of your laziness, the trees will no longer flow with sweet syrup, but mere sap. If you want the syrup, you must work for it by boiling the sap. And whats more, it will soon vanish. So that you will remember the error of your ways, you will be able to make syrup just once a year and only for a short time!

He showed them that making the syrup would take much work. In order to recreate the sweetness they so fondly remembered, they would need to make many birch bark containers to collect the sap; gather wood for fires; tend the fires and heat rocks; and constantly add hot rocks to the sap to boil away the water over many days.

And so it is to this day, as the People remember the Creators lesson and work hard to make the maple syrup they love so much! ADAPTED FROM WWW.FIRSTPEOPLE.US