Explore January: The History of Maple Sugaring Learn how maple sap used to be collected and processed and how it compares to current techniques.

Maple sugaring is the method of making maple syrup from sap. Humans have been collecting sap to make syrup for many years. Evidence shows that sap collection and production may have even started before or around the beginning of the 17th century. In the earlier years, some Indigenous peoples collected sap from sugar maple trees and hollowed out wooden logs to create troughs. These would act as a pot for the sap to go into and then stones were heated in a fire and placed inside the trough to boil. By boiling down the tree sap, the water evaporated out as steam which therefore condensed the liquid down into an edible A trough with hot rocks to boil down sap. thick, sweet, sticky syrup product.

There were at least three different forms of sugar that were then produced from maple syrup:

1. Grain sugar – similar to today’s brown sugar. 2. Cake sugar – like maple candy, it is poured into molds and left to harden for easy, long-term storage. 3. Wax sugar – also known now as “sugar on snow”, maple sugar is heated and poured over shaved ice.

The Importance of Maple Trees Maple trees and sap were important to many Indigenous peoples and various tribes have legends that highlight this aspect. For example, the Abenaki are one of the Algonquian-speaking peoples of northeastern North America. The Abenaki originated in a region called Wabanahkik in the Eastern Algonquian languages (meaning "Dawn Land"), a territory now including parts of Quebec and the Maritimes of Canada and northern sections of the New England region of the United States. This is a sample legend: Gluskabe Changes Maple Syrup legend

As time moved forward, settlers observed the way that the Indigenous Peoples collected and processed ingredients and then introduced new materials to the method. Colonial Americans brought into use metal augers which would make a hole in the tree to then be fitted with a wooden spout and a hook, so a bucket could hang from the tree and collect sap. Iron pots were also used for boiling sap directly over a fire. Most of the sap that was collected was boiled down until it turned into sugar, so spoilage could be avoided.

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Activity: Making Syrup at Home Making maple syrup is a time consuming and expensive process. It takes 40 gallons of sap just to make one gallon of maple syrup. Though, you can quickly make all different kinds of syrup right at home, it just won’t be maple syrup. All you need to make syrup is a liquid with high sugar content and this can be achieved in multiple ways. Choose an option below to try and learn how syrup is processed.

*Use caution when operating a stove top or hot plate*

Option 1: Make Syrup out of Sugar Water Materials: • Medium metal saucepan • Stove top or hot plate • Mixing spoon or rubber spatula

Ingredients: • 2 cups brown sugar • 1 cup water • ½ cup butter • Optional: ¼ teaspoon vanilla or maple extract

Instructions: 1. Add water and brown sugar to your saucepan and bring to a simmer over medium heat making sure all the sugar has dissolved. 2. Let mixture simmer, stirring occasionally, being sure not to burn the mixture. 3. Once desired consistency is almost achieved add in the butter to melt and remove from heat. 4. Add in extract if using and stir to combine. 5. Let syrup cool for a few minutes and enjoy!

Option 2: Make Syrup out of Fruit Juice Materials: • Medium metal saucepan • Stove top or hot plate • Mixing spoon or rubber spatula

Ingredients: • 1 cup cranberry, pomegranate, or other type of juice • 1 cup granulated sugar

Instructions: 1. Add juice and sugar to your saucepan and bring to a simmer over medium heat making sure all the sugar has dissolved. 2. Let mixture simmer, stirring occasionally, until desired consistency is achieved being sure not to burn the mixture. 3. Let syrup cool for a few minutes and enjoy!

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1800s and Beyond In the 1800s, sap collection and production became much more efficient with use of metal buckets and lids. The invention of the tin can in the mid-1800’s was also important for the syrup industry, because is allowed maple syrup to be stored for longer periods of time without spoiling. This was also an essential creation for the soldiers throughout the American Civil War because they would rely on maple syrup as a great source of energy. Modern evaporator boiling down sap. Later inventions in the 1900’s included flat pans with channels which had led to the invention of modern style evaporators. Filtered sap is poured into the left compartment and is heated by a constant wood fire underneath the pans. As the sap boils down and the sugar concentrates, they flow through to the next pan. Eventually when the liquid flows into the last pan the syrup in that channel can be removed and bottled.

Learn more about how modern style evaporators and how they work here.

Plastic pipelines were also invented and patented, which were designed after metal pipes but those failed due to issues with freezing in the cold winter weather. Eventually, vacuum pumps were attached to the pipes to create even more efficient sap flow, but today, natural vacuums (gravity) alone are still widely used. This model would continually be improved up to the late 1900’s.

Learn more about plastic pipeline installation used in sap collection here, and more about natural vs. artificial Plastic pipes used to collect sap by way of vacuums here. gravity.

Reverse osmosis is another addition to the maple sugaring process that has proven to be more efficient than what has been done in the past. Reverse osmosis is a way of removing impurities from water, keeping the filtered water to drink, and discarding the impurities. In this case, the impurities are the portion that is kept, because it is the sugary sap that we need to make into syrup. The sap still needs to be boiled down, but because a lot of the water has been taken out with the reverse osmosis process, less time and fuel is needed to turn the sap into syrup. Reverse osmosis system. Source. Learn more about how reverse osmosis is used in a sugar shack here.

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Extending Learning

Osmosis The topic of osmosis appears in content areas such as biology, cell physiology, environmental science and chemistry, just to name a few.

Osmosis is a type of diffusion that, in biology, is usually related to cells. Diffusion is when molecules or atoms move from an area of high concentration to an area of low concentration. Osmosis is when a substance crosses a semipermeable membrane in order to balance the concentrations of another substance. In biology, this is usually when a solvent such as water flows into or out of a cell depending on the concentration of a solute such as salt. Osmosis happens spontaneously and without any energy on the part of the cell.

Beginnings Many of the practices we know of today were derived through the ingenuity, knowledge, and talents of Indigenous Peoples. Colonists routinely reaped these benefits, as is the case of maple syrup production.

To learn more about the genesis of maple sugar production, a student research project may be applicable to content areas such as science, social studies, geography, anthropology and others.

As just one example of a site to investigate, Active History includes information about colonialism and maple syrup in Canada.

The site also provides a few unpublished research papers where your students may wish to see how some masters level papers are constructed. The first article also indicates a connection to climate change and this topic is now a mandated element to the NJDOE curriculum.

• Deborah Pine (Garden River First Nation), “Ziisabaakodakaan: The Place Where Sugar is Made”, unpublished MA thesis, University of Toronto, 2016.

The purpose of the Ziisabaakodakaan project is to engage with a family of Anishinaabek Elders from Waagaaskinigaa (Whitefish River First Nation) that have operated a family Maple Sugar camp for countless generations. This project gives voice to the Anishinaabe people and their knowledge in the area of MS production. The research project overall question is: How can the Anishinaabe Gkendaasowin of the Elders of Waagaaskinigaa (Whitefish River First Nation) contribute to discussion of the production of MS in the face of climate change?

• Hayley Moody (Anishinaabe-Métis), “Indigenous Knowledge and Maple Syrup: A Case Study of the Effects of Colonization in Ontario,” MRP Submitted to the Faculty of Social Justice and Community Engagement, Wilfrid Laurier University (Brantford), 2015.

For many Indigenous communities throughout the province of Ontario on Turtle Island, maple syrup (MS) practices are culturally and spiritually significant; however, since the arrival of European settlers, these MS practices have substantially declined. This research utilizes the decline of maple syrup practices and related Indigenous Knowledge (IK) as a case study to exemplify the damaging impacts colonialism has had on the culture of Indigenous peoples living within Ontario.

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• Ryan Huron, “Historical Roots of Canadian Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Maple Practices,” Unpublished Masters, Wilfrid Laurier University, 2014.

This research is concerned with developing a historical baseline of Canadian Aboriginal and non- Aboriginal maple practices and the contribution of these activities to the well-being (WB) of communities up to approximately 1950. …the research identified dynamics related to governance as important pieces of the historical contexts of maple products within Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal communities. The role of early government rules and regulations associated with maple products and the impacts of the Indian Act on Aboriginal maple producers are further explored and discussed.

Another Resource Elements of Indigenous Style - A Guide for Writing By and About Indigenous Peoples by Gregory Youngling

Remembering Dr. Gregory Younging Elements of Indigenous Style offers Indigenous writers and editors—and everyone creating works about Indigenous Peoples—the first published guide to common questions and issues of style and process. Everyone working in words or other media needs to read this important new reference, and to keep it nearby while they’re working.

For more ideas to make connections into your own curriculum, contact Kate Reilly, Manager of Education at Duke Farms at [email protected].

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