On food and cooking the science and lore of the kitchen ( PDFDrive ) 1263
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Maplesugarwasanimportantpartofthe
nativeAmericans’diet,workedintobearfat,
ormixedwithcornmealtomakealight,
compactprovisionforjourneys.Forthe
colonists,maplesugarwascheaperandmore
availablethantheheavilytaxedcanesugar
fromtheWestIndies.Evenafterthe
Revolution,manyAmericansfoundamoral
reasonforpreferringmaplesugartocane;
canesugarwasproducedlargelywithslave
labor.Towardtheendofthenineteenth
century,caneandbeetsugarbecamesocheap
thatthedemandformaplesugardeclined
steeply.Todaytheproductionofmaplesyrup
isacottageindustryconcentratedinthe
easternCanadianprovinces,especially
Quebec,andintheAmericanNortheast.
TheSapRunThemaplefamilyoriginatedin
ChinaorJapanandnumberssome100species
throughout the Northern Hemisphere. Of the
four North American species good for
sugaring, the hard or rock maple,Acer
saccharum, produces sap of greater quality
and in greater quantity than the others, and
accounts for most of the syrup produced
today.Inthespring,sapiscollectedfromthe
first major thaw until the leaf buds burst, at
which point the tree fluids begin to carry
substances that give the syrup a harsh flavor.
Thesaprunisimprovedbyfourconditions:a
severe winter that freezes the roots, snow
cover that keeps the roots cold in the spring,
extreme variations in temperatures from day
to night, and good exposure to the sun. The
northeastern states and eastern Canadian
provincesmeettheseneedsmostconsistently.
Sapdoesruninothertreesinearlyspring,
andsomeofthem—birch,hickory,andelm,
forexample—havebeentappedforsugar.
Butmaplesproducemoreandsweetersap
thananyothertree,thankstoanintricate
physicalmechanismbywhichthetreeforces
sugarsfromthepreviousgrowingseasonout
