Canada is world renowned for a delicious sugary treat known as 'Maple Syrup'. At one time it was the only available source of sugar in much of North America. The true history of Maple Syrup is shrouded in mystery, but can be attributed to native peoples, many many moons ago. So the next time you are enjoying a big stack of pancakes and maple syrup, remember that you should be thanking the brilliant and inventive minds of Canada's native peoples.

Maple Syrup has been farmed in North America since long before Europeans first landed. Native Americans discovered how to collect sap (also known as tree water) from maple trees decades and perhaps centuries before first contact with Europeans. It has been estimated that at one time maple sugar comprised up to 12% of the diet of some native Americans.

Native peoples had an age-old technique for collecting sap. During early spring, they would cut diagonal slashes in the trunks of maple trees. Sap would slowly leak from these slashes. To collect it, a hollow reed would be inserted into the slash to direct the sap into small bark containers. These smaller containers would then be emptied into larger containers for 'processing'. The final step in the process, involved dropping fire-heated stones into the sap. These heated stones would slowly boil down the sap into a dark sweet syrup. Additional boiling would eventually reduce the sap to crystalline sugar (which could be stored indefinitely). European settlers were taught this technique, and simply replaced bark containers with metal pails - which they could suspend over fires to speed up the boiling process. This process remained virtually unchanged until recent times.

"Sugaring" is still a special occasion for many people in Canada. Rural families still gather in huts and shacks, in the bush, to collect and boil the sap - and to make maple sugar candy. A treat many young Canadian schoolchildren have experienced first hand by pouring syrup onto clean, white snow, and waiting for it to cool enough to be eaten.

Sugary syrup can be collected from many types of trees, but it is the Maple trees, that grow in abundance in Canada, that provide the greatest percentage of sugar, and hence the sweetest syrup. Today the province of Quebec supplies more than 50 percent of the world's supply of maple sugar.

Now that you know how it is made, take another look at maple syrup. It can be used in many different recipes instead of sugar or honey, and adds a unique and delicious flavour to most foods. Sweet!