Maple syrup is a sweetener derived from the sap of maple trees and is often used by many individuals in the U.S., Canada, Europe and other parts of the world.   The sugar from the juice of the sugar bush is carefully extracted retaining all of the natural sweetness 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 Indian soil.   The Pre-Columbian Native Americans who live in the Northern part of N.A. were one of the first if not the first known individuals to have developed and produced maple syrup.   Research also shows that long before the British arrive, the natives were already processing, developing and consuming maple syrup. They used the syrup to make things like pure organic maple candy.

Suitable sugar bush trunks containing sap were searched for by the indians during the end of the winter or in early sring.  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 h2o.   The taste of the sugar will then be changed due to it being caramelized making it into maple syrup. The maple making industry was then rapidly put into the Brittish culture in a period of less than a century.  The year 1700 up to 1800 marked the significant improvements in the maple syrup industry. The maple syrup became one of the major if not the major source of concentrated sugar thereby making Europeans, natives as well as fur traders engage into it in a fast pace.  There were numerous developments brought about specifically by the British due to their more advanced technological advancements like metallurgy and toolmaking thereby advancing the maple making process significantly and allowing them to make other things like pure organic maple sugar.

Today, maple syrup creation is generally focused on the northeastern region of North America.   The Vermont stand, a world renowned maple producing farm full of maple trees is located in the U.S.  Vermont together with the other numerous maple stands in the U.S. are closely related to the other maple stands located in Canada and Europe.  These stands use “sugar houses” or “sugar shacks” where sugar bush sap is heated in the hundreds. There are two major maple species that can be extracted from maple trees.   First is the sugar maple also known as “acer saccharum”.   This maple syrup can be classified into average up to moderate sugar content maple syrup.  The second one is the “acer nigrum” also known as the black maple. This is the kind of maple syrup classified as dark syrup because of its color due to the high sugar content from the sap it was extracted from which is also good for making rich canadian maple butter.

The maple farms 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 created is roughly 25 up to 30 million gallons per year based on a research conducted last 2005.   The farms found in Quebec, Canada contribute most of these millions of gallons of maple syrup.  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 production of maple syrup in Quebec is supervised and controlled with the utilization of modern day volume-demand-management system.   This system accepts data input requirements pertaining to quotas about the supply to be created and the total need for the 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 people, the manufacturers and owners of the maple stands have strategically prepared for any outburst in the demand for maple syrup.   Again according to the 2005 research, even if the demand rises to double or even triple the usually amount, the stands in Eastern have enough reserves amounting to 20 million gallons that can meet such rise a possible rise in demand. The Vermont farm located in the U.S. is the second largest producer of maple syrup as of today.  A total of 450 thousand gallons of maple syrup are manufactured and produced in this farm every year.  The remainder with regard to the total need of maple syrup worldwide is being supplied by other farms beside Vermont and Quebec and are located in Maine, New York, Connecticut and other U.S. farm lands.

The creation of maple syrup is largely focused on the months of February up to April.   The factors to be considered are the local weather conditions present in the maple farm itself.  Warm and hot days as well as cold freezing nights greatly contribute to the development of the maple sap.   The maple sap will eventually pour out from tap holes and other passages due to the constant rise and fall of the temperature. This juice will be the main ingredient used in order to make maple syrup.   It will be boiled for long periods in order to extract the sugary like substance known as maple syrup. In order to manufacture and create maple syrup, sufficient amount of time and energy is needed.  A typical example is that it takes a period of 24 hours in order to boil down 40 liters of gathered 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 changes 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 produced is of the best due to this maple syrup processing machines.

There are currently different grades of maple syrup consisting of several color classes based on Canadian and U.S. 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.   There are four main grades found in the United States on the other hand, namely Vermont Fancy, Grade A Medium Amber, Dark Amber and Grade B maple syrup.

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