The History of Maple

Maple Sugar and Native Americans

Most historians believe that Maple sugar/syrup was first discovered by Native American Indians hundreds of years before Europeans reached the shores of North America. One of the most popular legends states that a Native American chief threw his tomahawk at a maple tree in anger after a long day of hunting. Sap dripped from the cut in the maple tree into a birch bark pail or hollowed-out log that happened to be below the tomahawk. The chief’s wife used the maple “water” to boil venison from the hunt. Needless to say, after much boiling, the meat absorbed much of the delicious maple flavor and the residual “water” became thicker and sweeter…much to the delight of the chief and his wife.

Native American methods of collecting and boiling the sap down were very basic by today’s standards, but they got the job done. Native Americans typically opened a V-shaped gash in the bark and cambium wood of the tree with a tomahawk to initiate the sap flow. The drips of sap were collected in large hollowed-out logs. Boil-off of the water and concentration into maple syrup/sugar was accomplished by repeatedly dropping hot stones into the maple sap…a very time consuming process. Native Americans boiled the sap to make maple sugar, not maple syrup. Maple sugar, not maple syrup continued to be the predominant maple product made in North America right into the 1920’s.

1830-1920: Production Improvements and Evolution

Perhaps one of the first and most important innovations that French and British colonists brought to the Native American process was the introduction of large cast iron kettles to hold and then boil the maple sap over large fires, in place of the earlier “hot stone” method.

Although the tomahawk slash method of initiating sap flow continued during the 1600’s and well into the 1700’s, by the 1820’s, most sap was gathered by manually drilling a small (usually 7/16 of an inch)hole into the maple tree by means of an augur. This method clearly reduced the chance of any bug or bacterial infestation of the tree due to the large scar opened by the earlier slash technique. Additionally, farmers carved wooden spouts to guide the flow of sap into wooden buckets.

By the 1850’s, large, flat evaporator pans were designed to replace the iron kettles that were introduced 200 years earlier. These evaporator pans increased the surface area exposed to the fire, and thus significantly decreased the time necessary to produce a gallon of maple syrup.

The period from1860-1865, during the American Civil War saw the high water mark of American maple sugar production. Yearly production averaged 40 million pounds of sugar and 1.5 million gallons of syrup!! Twenty-three states were producing maple sugar during this period..
During the years 1860 through 1920, maple sugar production continued to evolve. Durable metal buckets replaced the heavier, more fragile wooden buckets that were previously used. The use of metal for collection spouts (spiles), and metal storage tanks increasingly replaced their wooden equivalents. Brick fire “arches” nestled the flat evaporator pans, producing a more rapid and consistent boiling system with a contained firebox and greater efficiency in the use of firewood.

1920-Today: The Modern Era of Maple Syrup

During the early 1900’s, consumer tastes gradually shifted towards the greater use of maple syrup compared to maple sugar in either granulated or block form. Adults and children began to use and savor maple syrup on pancakes, French toast, cookies and other tasty treats.
By the late 1960’s, plastic tubing that ran the maple sap to a central collection point began to replace metal buckets as the primary means of collection. This tubing was less labor intensive (as it could be left in place all year long, with new tapping holes drilled by the maple sugar makers every Spring. Reverse osmosis machines were introduced into the production process that significantly reduced the amount of water in maple sap by “filtering” out the water by means of a special membrane.

Today, the production of maple syrup outnumbers the production of maple sugar
by 40 to 1, completely reversing the ratio that existed during the 1800’s. As seen in the above noes, although the technology to produce maple syrup/sugar has changed significantly since the times of the Native Americans and early European settlers, the process still remains essentially unchanged…drill, spout, collect, boil off the water in the sap, until the sap is 1/3 water, 2/3 sugar. Today we enjoy maple syrup and sugar that is still an all natural product, unchanged in taste from that produced by farmers and settlers in Vermont 300 years ago.

Enjoy!!