The sweet juice is becoming more and more popular in Europe too
The career of a sugar maple tree begins at the age of 40. Then the sweet juice is tapped for the first time. Just enough so that it doesn’t harm the tree. From February, when the nights are still cold but the days are already warmer, the harvest in the “sugar bush”, as the commercially used maple forests are called, is ready to go.
There is liquid gold in many countries. If it is barley juice, the popular beer in Germany, it is definitely maple syrup in Canada. The liquid gold of Canada should not be missing in any kitchen or on any breakfast table. The delicacy from the forests of central and eastern Canada is also finding increasing fans in Germany.
According to SUNGLASSESWILL, 80 to 90 percent of the maple syrup sold worldwide is produced in Canada. The main producers are the provinces of Québec and Ontario. When the time comes between February and April at the most, it’s time to go out to the trees. Whereas in the past there were small taps and buckets on the trees, today many real pipeline systems direct the tree sap directly into small collection tanks. Because today, as it was in the times of the extraction of the juice by the natives, the natural product has to be processed quickly, otherwise it will start to ferment and spoil.
From the buckets or tanks it goes into the “sugar-shacks”, as the huts in which the maple syrup is cooked are affectionately called. There the “sap”, the colorless tree sap of the sugar maple, is boiled down in large vats. It takes about ten hours for the tree sap with two to three percent sugar content to turn into a syrup with 60 percent sugar content. It takes a lot of dexterity to let the sugar contained in the syrup caramelize during the cooking process. It does this as the water slowly evaporates. 40 liters of tree sap are necessary to produce just one liter of maple syrup. This explains why the noble and pure syrup can never become a cheap product.
After the “sugaring off” the quality of the maple syrup becomes apparent
After “sugaring off”, as the boiling process is called, it becomes apparent which quality maple syrup can be assigned to. The syrup varies from almost clear to golden yellow to dark brown, depending on the purity and time of harvest. You can find out how maple syrup is classified qualitatively in Part 2.
Regardless of how the maple syrup is made, in the family environment of the maple forest owners or on a larger scale, Canadian maple syrup is still a great natural product that can be used in many ways. Whether with the popular pancakes, whether a few drops in natural yoghurt, over a dessert, whether in the salad dressing or the marinade for ingenious spear ribs, Canada’s maple syrup is unadulterated, natural and delicious. The natural tree sap, which can be described as healthy when consumed in usual quantities, contains sucrose, minerals, fructose, proteins, malic acid and glucose, which can only be detected at the end of the harvest season.
And at the sugar huts you can’t do without maple syrup and lots of fun. The children of the forest owners and their friends often help, collecting buckets and lids together. There is a reward for this, the “sugar on snow”. The piping hot maple syrup is drizzled into the cold snow, where it cools down quickly. The result is funny characters that are immediately sucked away.
The Faszination Canada tip: We recommend that you only use maple syrup from reputable suppliers. Whether in organic quality or conventionally. Unfortunately, the maple syrup from Canada, the liquid gold, is threatened by cheap syrup from China, which is adulterated and adulterated with sugar water. The rule here is that greed is not cool, but quality is top. It is worth it ..
Canada’s liquid gold is offered in various grades of quality. You can find out more here .
The film from the Pro Sieben series “Galileo” shows how maple syrup from Canada is made.
You can find delicious maple syrup products here in our My Canada Shop .
