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Maple Syrup
A very sweet syrup made from the sap of the maple tree (acer saccharum). One hole in a sugar maple generally yields about fifteen gallons of sap; it takes thirty-five to forty gallons of sap, boiled for hours, to produce one gallon of syrup. If cooked for longer, the syrup crystallises into sugar.
Maple syrup is used as an accompaniment to pancakes and waffles or with bacon; and as a flavouring for ice cream and sweet sauces.
Until 1860, maple sugar was cheaper in the U.S.A than white sugar, and remained so in Vermont for much longer.
Male trees take forty to fifty years to reach full production, one reason there has never been much selective breeding of trees to increase their yields. See 'Crèvecoeur, St. John de'
Maple syrup is used as an accompaniment to pancakes and waffles or with bacon; and as a flavouring for ice cream and sweet sauces.
Until 1860, maple sugar was cheaper in the U.S.A than white sugar, and remained so in Vermont for much longer.
Male trees take forty to fifty years to reach full production, one reason there has never been much selective breeding of trees to increase their yields. See 'Crèvecoeur, St. John de'