Page 294 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Canada

MAPLE SYRUP
There is more to Canada’s ancient maple forests – long the pride of
Quebec and Ontario – than their annual display of beauty. Every fall,
turning leaves splash crimson and orange across the south, but it is
in springtime that the trees give up their most famous product: maple
syrup. It goes with everything from pancakes to potato chips, so don’t
pass up an opportunity to try this decadently sweet tree sap while

EXPERIENCE Quebec Province THE STORY OF MAPLE SYRUP
in Canada. You won’t be alone – more than Can $100 million is spent
on maple products every year.
The first maple-sugar farmers were the
indigenous peoples of North America.
An Iroquois legend tells the story of a
chief in ancient times who, hurling an ax
at a tree, found it stuck in the trunk at the
end of the next day, dripping sweet fluid.
That night the chief’s wife boiled the day’s
hunt in the sap, and maple syrup was born.
MAPLE SYRUP PRODUCTS
Today, maple syrup is most popularly
used as a topping for waffles, pancakes,
and French toast, but boiled for longer,
it hardens into a pale golden sugar that
can be used as a sweetener for drinks or
eaten like candy. Maple butter, maple-
cured ham, and a Quebecois favourite,
sugar pie, are just some of the delectable Men tapping for sap in 1907, using
products benefiting from the sweet stuff. age-old methods still employed today

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