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StillnessIndigenous food knowledge fact

Maple syrup was first made by Indigenous peoples of northeastern North America. Each spring they collected the sap of maple trees and concentrated it into syrup and sugar, long before Europeans arrived; settlers later learned the craft from them.

Maple syrup

FoodCultureHistory

The story behind the card

Maple sap runs for only a few weeks at the end of winter, when freezing nights alternate with days above freezing; the swings in temperature build pressure inside the tree and push the sap out. Indigenous makers cut V-shaped notches in the trunk and guided the sap along reeds or pieces of bark into birch-bark containers or clay pots. They concentrated it by boiling, and also by leaving it out on frosty nights and throwing away the layer of ice that formed on top, since the ice is almost pure water. It takes about forty litres of sap to make one litre of syrup. Quebec now produces about 70 per cent of the world's supply.

Türkçe oku
Akçaağaç şurubunu ilk yapanlar, Kuzey Amerika'nın kuzeydoğusundaki Yerli halklardır. Her ilkbahar akçaağaçların özsuyunu toplayıp koyulaştırarak şurup ve şeker elde ederlerdi. Avrupalılar gelmeden çok önce yapılan bu işi yerleşimciler sonradan onlardan öğrendi.

Akçaağaç özsuyu kışın sonunda yalnızca birkaç hafta akar: geceleri don olur, gündüzleri hava sıfırın üstüne çıkar. Bu sıcaklık değişimi ağacın içinde basınç yaratır ve özsuyu dışarı iter. Yerli üreticiler gövdeye V biçiminde çentikler açar, özsuyu kamışlar ya da kabuk parçaları yardımıyla huş kabuğundan kaplara veya kil çömleklere akıtırdı. Özsuyu kaynatarak koyulaştırır, ayrıca ayaz gecelerde dışarıda bırakıp üstünde oluşan buz tabakasını atarlardı; buz neredeyse saf su olduğundan geriye daha koyu bir özsu kalırdı. Bir litre şurup için yaklaşık kırk litre özsu gerekir. Bugün dünyadaki akçaağaç şurubunun yaklaşık yüzde 70'i Quebec'te üretiliyor.

Sources and further reading

Background reading: Maple syrup
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