History and production of maple syrup
A ritual repeated every spring
The history of maple syrup begins before the arrival of European colonists: Native Americans already knew how to collect sap and turn it into syrup.
Since then, the method has changed, but the gesture has not. The sugar season runs from late February to April: only during these weeks does the climate cause the sap to flow out of the tree.
Season from late February to April
Two-hundred-year-old tradition
One ingredient
From engraved bark to reverse osmosis
Four centuries in seven stages. The tools change, but the principle doesn't: extract the sap and evaporate the water from it.
Natives
A V-cut and a wooden wedge. Sap drips into baskets at the base of the tree, then is slowly boiled in clay pots under a roof of branches: the ancestor of Canadian sugar shacks.
The settlers
The method passes to the Europeans. It is the natives who explain how to tap the trunk, collect the sap, boil it in iron cauldrons, and pour it into wooden molds.
Late 18th century
Exports begin. Especially to France, where the syrup was widely consumed by nobles and the wealthier classes.
1850
Evaporators arrive. Two pots instead of iron containers: cooking times are halved. And tractors replace draft animals.
Early 1900s
From family to industry. Until then, production was limited to the home. With the new century, a supply chain emerged and the syrup entered supermarkets.
1920s
Classification is introduced. Five categories: the first form of the classification we know today.
1970s
Reverse osmosis. Machines that remove water from the sap before boiling, larger tanks, preheaters to avoid heat dispersion.
How did they discover it
Animals. According to some stories, Native Americans observed dogs or squirrels licking the sap dripping from the bark. They imitated them, thus discovering the nectar.
The tomahawk. The first producer is said to have been the wife of a tribal chief: her husband retrieved the axe planted in the tree the night before, the warm day caused the sap to drip into a container, and the woman, believing it to be water, cooked meat in it. The cooking transformed it into syrup.
From tree to bottle
Lymph production is not a chemical action but a physical one: it is driven by nocturnal frost alternating with daytime thawing. The rest is evaporation.
Summer
Maple trees produce sugar through photosynthesis and store the excess in their roots as starch.
Frost and thaw
At night, the sap freezes and expands: the water rises, carrying the sugars with it. During the day, the sun warms the branches and the pressure pushes the sap outwards.
The Collection
A hole one and a half meters from the ground and a dense network of pipes carry the sap to the tank. The temperature needs to fluctuate around 0 °C.
The evaporator
A large kettle removes water: from 98% water and 2% sugar, it reaches 67% sugar, and the amber color appears.
Bottled
Filtered and bottled, or in steel barrels. Heat treated only: no added preservatives, colorants, thickeners, or sugar.
One liter, one season
The color depends on the harvest time: lighter at the beginning of the season, very dark at the end. A liter carafe requires very specific climatic conditions and patient work handed down from generation to generation.
80%
Of the world's production comes from Canada, especially Quebec
3 out of 150
Maple species used: sugar, black, and red
80 years old
The minimum age of the tree before the first harvest
10-12 liters
The sap that each maple gives in a 4 to 6-week season
Start your journey into a world of goodness now
Pure Maple Syrup – Gold, Delicate Taste - 189ml bottle
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Pure Maple Syrup – Amber – 189ml Bottle
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Pure Maple Syrup – Dark - 189ml Bottle
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