Maple sugar

File:Acer saccharum.jpg

Three species of maple trees in the genus Acer are predominantly used to produce maple sugar: the sugar maple (A. saccharum), the black maple (A. nigrum), and the red maple (A. rubrum),{{sfn|Elliot|2006|pp=8–10}}{{full citation needed|date=January 2021}} because of the high sugar content (roughly two to five percent) in the sap of these species.{{sfn|Ciesla|2002|pp=37–38}}{{full citation needed|date=January 2021}} The black maple is included as a subspecies or variety in a more broadly viewed concept of A. saccharum, the sugar maple, by some botanists.{{GRIN | Acer saccharum subsp. nigrum | 314801 | access-date = 10 December 2011}} Of these, the red maple has a shorter season because it buds earlier than sugar and black maples, which alters the flavor of the sap.{{cite web|last=Heilingmann |first=Randall B |title=Hobby Maple Syrup Production (F-36-02) |url=http://ohioline.osu.edu/for-fact/0036.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010320055201/http://ohioline.osu.edu/for-fact/0036.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=20 March 2001 |publisher=Ohio State University |access-date=20 September 2010 }}

A few other species of maple are also sometimes used as sources of sap for producing maple sugar, including the box elder (or Manitoba maple, A. negundo),{{cite news |title=Sask. sap too sweet to waste |last=Ehman |first=Amy Jo |newspaper=The StarPhoenix |date=25 April 2011 |page=B1}} the silver maple (A. saccharinum),{{cite book |last1=Heiligmann |first1=Randall B |last2=Winch |first2=Fred E |editor1-first=Melvin R |editor1-last=Koelling |editor2-last=Heiligmann |editor2-first=Randall B |title=North American Maple Syrup Producers Manual |chapter-url=http://ohioline.osu.edu/b856/ |archive-url=https://archive.today/20060429074616/http://ohioline.osu.edu/b856/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=29 April 2006 |access-date=20 September 2010 |series= Bulletin |volume=856 |year=1996 |publisher=Ohio State University |chapter=Chapter 3: The Maple Resource}} and the bigleaf maple (A. macrophyllum).{{cite journal|author1=Ruth, Robert H |author2=Underwood, J Clyde |author3=Smith, Clark E |author4=Yang, Hoya Y |year=1972|title=Maple sirup production from bigleaf maple|journal=PNW-181|publisher=US Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Forest and Range Experiment Station|page=12|url=http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/pubs/rn181.pdf}} Similar sugars may also be produced from birch or palm trees, among other sources.{{cite news|newspaper=The Globe and Mail|title=Why settle for maple when you could have birch syrup?|date=7 June 2011|url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/food-and-wine/trends/trends-features/why-settle-for-maple-when-you-could-have-birch-syrup/article2050424/|access-date=12 December 2011|author=Leung, Wency}}{{cite book|last=Food|title=Utilization of tropical foods: trees : compendium on technological and nutritional aspects of processing and utilization of tropical foods, both animal and plant, for purposes of training and field reference.|year=1989|publisher=Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations|isbn=978-92-5-102776-9|page=[https://archive.org/details/utilizationoftro0000unse/page/5 5]|url=https://archive.org/details/utilizationoftro0000unse/page/5}}

Maple sugar is what remains after the sap of the sugar maple is boiled for longer than is needed to create maple syrup or maple taffy.{{cite web | url=http://vermontmaple.org/maple-products/maple-sugar/ | title=Vermont maple sugar | publisher=Vermont Maple Sugar Makers Association | date=2016 | access-date=11 July 2016 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161031153845/http://vermontmaple.org/maple-products/maple-sugar/ | archive-date=31 October 2016 | url-status=dead }} Once almost all the water has been boiled off, all that is left is a solid sugar. By composition, this sugar is about 90% sucrose, the remainder consisting of variable amounts of glucose and fructose.{{cite journal |title=Sugar Profiles of Maple Syrup Grades |first1=Abby |last1=van den Berg |first2=Timothy |last2=Perkins |first3=Mark |last3=Isselhardt |pages=12–13 |journal=Maple Syrup Digest |date=December 2006 |url=http://www.uvm.edu/~pmrc/sugarprof.pdf |access-date=2016-07-12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130810105502/http://www.uvm.edu/~pmrc/sugarprof.pdf |archive-date=2013-08-10 |url-status=dead }} This is usually sold in pressed blocks or as a translucent candy. It is difficult to create as the sugar easily burns and thus requires considerable skill.

In Canada, maple sugar is one of several maple products manufactured from maple sap or maple syrup, including maple butter and maple taffy.{{cite web|title=Labelling Requirements for Maple Products|url=http://www.inspection.gc.ca/food/labelling/food-labelling-for-industry/maple-products/eng/1392414400422/1392414462687?chap=0#c2|publisher=Canadian Food Inspection Agency, Government of Canada|access-date=13 December 2017|date=19 June 2017}} Under the Food and Drugs Act and Consumer Packaging and Labelling Act, Canadian regulations require that maple sugar products identify the business identity and country of origin on the retail product label.

Maple sugar was made by many First Nations/American Indian peoples. Unlike maple syrup, it was easy to transport and long lasting.Tim Herd, Maple Sugar: From Sap to Syrup: The History, Lore, and How-To Behind This Sweet Treat, p. 18, Storey Publishing, 2012 {{ISBN|1612122116}} It is called ziinzibaakwad by the Anishinaabeg.Weshki-Ayaad, Lippert and Gambill. [http://www.freelang.net/online/ojibwe.php?lg=gbFREELANG Ojibwe-English and English-Ojibwe online dictionary] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303165650/http://www.freelang.net/online/ojibwe.php?lg=gbFREELANG |date=March 3, 2016 }}. Blessing of the Bay, the second ocean-going merchant ship built in the English colonies, carried maple sugar from the Massachusetts Bay Colony to New Amsterdam as early as 1631.{{Cite book

| last = Clark

| first = William Horace

| title = Ships and Sailors: The Story of Our Merchant Marine

| publisher = L.C. Page & Co

| year = 1938

| location = Boston

| pages = 15–17

}}

French awareness of the process is indicated in at least one engraver's works, those of the mid-18th-century artist Jean-Francois Turpin, the engraver Bernard (including several for Diderot's 1755 Encyclopedie.) and others.{{cite web|url=http://www.philographikon.com/sugarproduction.html |title=Antique Prints of Sugar Production |access-date=2014-09-23 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150418021914/http://www.philographikon.com/sugarproduction.html |archive-date=2015-04-18 }}

Maple syrup and maple sugar were used during the American Civil War and by abolitionists in the years before the war because most cane sugar and molasses were produced by Southern slaves.{{cite web|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2011/11/making-the-grade-why-the-cheapest-maple-syrup-tastes-best/239133/|title=Making the Grade: Why the Cheapest Maple Syrup Tastes Best|work=The Atlantic|date=1 November 2011|author=Applebaum, Yoni|accessdate=20 May 2017|url-status=live|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20170519022320/https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2011/11/making-the-grade-why-the-cheapest-maple-syrup-tastes-best/239133/|archivedate=19 May 2017 }}{{cite journal |last=Gellmann |first=D |title=Pirates, Sugar, Debtors, and Slaves: Political Economy and the case for Gradual Abolition in New York |journal=Slavery & Abolition: A Journal of Slave and Post-Slave Studies |year=2001 |volume=22 |issue=2 |pages=51–68 |doi=10.1080/714005193}} For example, Lucretia Mott was known for giving out maple candies wrapped in papers that bore messages like "Take this, my friend, you need not fear to eat. No slave hath toiled to cultivate this sweet."{{Cite news |last=Blackmore |first=Willy |date=2019-08-14 |title=The Boycott's Abolitionist Roots |language=en-US |url=https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/boycott-sugar-slavery-bds/ |accessdate=2023-02-28 |issn=0027-8378}}

Maple sugar is used to flavor maple products and as an alternative to cane sugar.

File:Sugar Makak 1925.jpg|Sugar makak – 1925

File:Maple sugar demonstration 1.jpg|Demonstration of Native American technique of making maple sugar

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• List of foods made from maple

{{reflist|2}}

• {{Cite book |last=Ciesla |first=William M |title=Non-wood Forest Products from Temperate Broad-leaved Trees |url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_yDoE8-8YPwsC |year=2002 |publisher=Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations |isbn=978-92-5-104855-9}}
• {{Cite book |last=Elliot |first=Elaine |title=Maple Syrup: Recipes from Canada's Best Chefs |year=2006 |publisher=Formac Publishing Company |isbn=978-0-88780-697-1}}

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Category:Cuisine of Quebec

Category:Sugar confectionery

Sugar

Category:Syrup

Category:Types of sugar

Category:Canadian cuisine