Maple syrup is a sweetener made from the sap of sugar bushs and is often used by many indivduals in the U.S., Canada, Europe and other parts of the world. The sugar from the sap of the sugar bush is carefully extracted retaining all of the natural sugarness coupled with essential vitamins and nutrients. Maple syrup is now considered as a primary source of energy and nutrition by many people in the U.S. Maple syrup has been present even before the European colonizers ever set foot in Native American soil. The people living in the Northern tip of Northern America or the Pre-Columbian natives already have their way of developing and producing maple syrup. Research also shows that long before the Europeans arrive, the indians were already processing, developing and consuming maple syrup. They also made other things like maple candy.
The natives would find suitable sugar bush trunks during the end of winter or early May period. They will then collect these juices and then boil it in order to let some of the water and liquid content evaporate. The sugar left will then be concentrated upon together with the remaining water. The sugar will then be slightly caramelized thereby altering the taste of the sugar and turning it into syrup like substance. The European settlers quickly integrated into their culture this maple making process. There were several significant changes into the maple making processes during the period of 1700 up to 1800. Brittishs, fur traders and natives were intensely involved in this sugar making industry as the maple syrup back then was one of the major sources of concentrated sugar. There were numerous developments brought about specifically by the Brittishs due to their more advanced technological advancements like metallurgy and toolmaking thereby advancing the maple making process significantly. They developed things like maple sugar.
The maple syrup creation as of the latest is basically centralized in the northeast part of North America. The Vermont stand, a world renowned maple producing stand full of maple trees is located in the U.S. Vermont together with the other numerous maple farms in the U.S. are closely related to the other maple farms located in Canada and Europe. Sugar houses or sugar shacks are often utilized by these farms in order to boil sugar bush juices by batch. There are two major maple species that can be extracted from sugar bushs. The first one is the “acer saccharum” or the sugar maple. This is the kind of maple syrup that has average to moderate sugar content. The second one is the “acer nigrum” also known as the black maple. It is characterized by dark color and high sugar content extracted from U.S. and Canadian sugar bushs. You can buy pure organic maple butter anywhere.
The maple stands in Canada contribute to more than 80 percent of the total maple syrup produced not only in the U.S. but the rest of the globe. The maple syrup produced is roughly 25 up to 30 million gallons per year based on a research conducted last 2005. Most of these millions of gallons come from the farms located at Eastern, Canada. Again according to the research last 2005 Quebec has been the world’s largest creater of maple syrup, producing up to 75 percent of the total maple syrup for the whole world. The maple farms in Quebec are being controlled and supervised using the latest supply, need and managements systems available. This system accepts data input requirements pertaining to quotas about the volume to be created and the total demand for the organic maple syrup from the different parts of the world. Thousands and thousands of orders from big supermarkets and nationwide wholesalers are sent to this modern day system every day.
An ample amount of maple syrup reserves are being maintained in the maple stands located in Eastern. Since maple syrup is consumed everyday by thousands and thousands of indivduals, the manufacturers and owners of the maple stands have strategically prepared for any outburst in the need for maple syrup. As such, even if there is a rise of double or even triple the amount of maple syrup per year, they can effectively meet with such need due to their overwhelming reserve of 20 million gallons as of the year 2005. The Vermont farm located in the United States is the second largest creater of maple syrup as of today. This farm creates about 450 thousand gallons of maple syrup per year, according to a 2007 research conducted in the United States. The remaining thousands of liters are produced by other maple farms located in Maine, New York, Ohio, Connecticut and other parts of the U.S.
February, March and April are the months that are the center of maple syrup creation. The factors to be considered are the local weather conditions present in the maple farm itself. Maple sap can be harvested due to the heat and cold factors present during the day and night respectively. The maple sap will eventually pour out from tap holes and other passages due to the constant rise and fall of the temperature. The juice will then be gathered as a primary ingredient in producing maple syrup. The juice will eventually be boiled for long periods of time in order to harvest the liquid substance similar to sugar. Processing maple syrup needs ample amount of time and energy. It takes about half a day just to boil down 40 gallons of maple sap. These 40 liters of maple juice will only produce about 1 liter of high grade maple syrup. You can just imagine if this was done manually, good thing there are now several improvements on machineries with regard to producing maple syrup. Not only is the speed of producing maple syrup increased but also the quality and sugarness of the maple syrup created is of the best due to this maple syrup processing machines.
As of today there are numerous varieties of maple syrup consisting of different color classes in Canada and the U.S. based on the current standards. In Canada, there are mainly three grades namely Canada number 1 consisting of extra light and light maple syrup, Canada number 2 consisting of medium and amber and then Canada number 3 consisting of dark maple syrup. In the U.S. there are mainly four grades namely Vermont Fancy, Grade A medium amber, dark amber and Grade B maple syrup.