If you're like me, you love maple syrup. But where does it come from? Any guesses?
It is made from the sap of a maple tree! Maybe that is why the Canadians chose the Maple Leaf as the symbol in their flag. 
I went with some friends to a "Sugar Shack" in Quebec, Canada to see how maple syrup is made and to eat LOTS of maple syrup.
Most maple syrup is made in Quebec (and in Vermont, USA just South of Quebec, Canada). A Sugar Shack is a Quebec tradition. Schools and families often go to the Sugar Shack when the farmers are making maple syrup - usually in March and April. Why then? Well, let's learn why.
My Quebec friends were proud to tell me that the Indians discovered how to make maple syrup. (In the US we refer to Indians as Native Americans. In Canada they prefer the term First Peoples.)
It all starts by collecting the maple tree sap in buckets like this. Around March, a tree can tell that spring is coming and so it starts to push the sap up from its roots to its branches to make its new leaves.
The farmer puts a little spigot through the bark which drips the sap into the bucket. The sap looks just like water. When we tasted it, the sap tasted like water with a small sweet taste. The First Peoples must have been very smart to realize this sap could be made into delicious syrup!
So how does the sap become the syrup that Toto loves to put on his pancakes, waffles, ice cream, ham, eggs, and baked beans (baked beans!)? 
Well, first the farmer has to collect all the sap in all the buckets from all the trees. In the old days they used to do this with horses and wagons often through the snow as the weather is often still cold.
Then the farmer pours the sap into a long metal pan with a fire underneath. Here is my friend, Emile, in the Sugar Shack next to the pan used to boil the sap down into syrup.
The farmer has to boil 30 gallons of sap to get just one gallon of maple syrup. No wonder my Dad used to tell me not to pour so much all over my pancakes that I had pools of it left over on my plate. He would only let me get away with that with the less expensive Aunt Jemima syrup, which is made from corn syrup, not authentic maple syrup which tastes much better.
Well, at the Sugar Shack you can pour as much as you like all over your food. They want you to enjoy as much of their maple syrup as possible because they are proud of how good it tastes. We poured it all over our dinner. The best thing about dinner at the Sugar Shack with your school, friends or family is that they serve you breakfast! We had eggs, ham, bacon and baked beans. And I poured maple syrup over all of it! Yumm. Dessert was pancakes, maple pie (like pecan pie without the pecans), and a maple cobbler. I poured syrup all over those as well.
My friends' favorite part was the maple taffy. They remembered eating that every winter when they
visited the sugar shack. Basically the farmer boils the syrup even more to make it thicker and sweeter. Then he pours it over a pan of snow so it hardens. You then take a popsicle stick and peel the sticky maple taffy off the snow and eat it like a lollipop. Super yumm! My friend Emile and his father ate three of them each. We had to dance afterward just so we would be able to fall asleep in our beds later that night after all that sugar.
You can ask some grown-ups to make you maple taffy. My friends said their parents used to make it for them when they were kids. First, you have to start with real maple syrup (not Log Cabin brand). A grown-up must then boil it down so it is thicker and sweeter. You then need to collect clean snow outside (best is to collect it in pans as it falls). Otherwise, you will need to make some fine crushed ice like a snow cone at least a few centimeters thick (2 inches). With a ladle, pour the warm syrup into the snow. Let it cool for a couple minutes until it is really sticky and start pulling it off the snow with a clean popsicle stick. Eat it before it droops down the stick and all over your hands! Then thank the Native Americans for inventing maple syrup for all of us to enjoy.
Sugar Shack Questions:
- Which leaf is on the Canadian flag?
a) Poison Ivy b) The Oak Leaf c) The Maple Leaf d) Loose Leaf paper - What months do they collect maple syrup?
- Write the definition of a spigot.
- Write two words that rhyme with 'sugar'.
- Write down two other words that have the same number of syllables as 'Canada'.
- If I need to make two and a half gallons of maple syrup, how much maple sap do I need to collect?
- Why did Toto's Dad not allow him to waste too much maple syrup on his pancakes?
- Which state in the United States makes the most maple syrup?
- Why do you have to boil down the maple sap to make syrup?
- Draw a picture of you making maple syrup for the Sugar Shack, be sure and include the Canadian flag!
- Imagine you were a First People collecting maple syrup for your family. Describe your adventure for the day.
- How many quarts of Aunt Jemima syrup at $2.50/quart can you buy for the same price as one gallon of real maple syrup at $50.00/gallon? Hint: There are four quarts in one gallon.
Global citizen questions about Quebec:
- Find Quebec on a map.
a) What is the capital of Quebec?
b) Which US States border Quebec?
c) What is the name of the large river that flows past Montreal and connects to the Great Lakes? - Draw the Quebec flag. Hint: It is different from the Canadian flag.
- Do you know Quebec is bigger than Alaska? 90% of the Quebec population lives within 200 miles of the US border. Why do you think that is?
- Why do you think the Canadians call the Indians the First Peoples?
- List all the provinces of Canada.
- Research and explain the history of why one of Quebec's official languages is French.
- Do a taste test of real maple syrup and pancake syrup made with corn syrup. Describe the difference.
A great resource page. It would have great to have this information prior to when I started producing maple syrup on my Dad's 10 acres of Maple Trees when I was 10 years old!
Posted by: James MacBrien | September 17, 2010 at 12:56 PM