I’m pretty sure you’re all drawn to Vermont Maple Syrup, but did you know that Maine also produces excellent stuff?
Pure Maine maple syrup has a hint of the great north woods in it and has been enhancing the flavors of fine, downeast food since long before the colonists arrived. Today, hundreds of years later, the quality is excellent, the degree of sweetness is fixed by law, and the uniquely delicious taste still varies as it always has. Sometimes the syrup is dark and rich, sometimes pale gold and delicate. It all depends on the soil and terrain, the wind and the weather, just like wine.
There are three species of maple trees used to produce maple syrup: the sugar maple, the black maple and the red maple, because of the high sugar content (roughly two to five percent) in their sap. Maples are usually tapped when they reach 30 to 40 years of age. Each tree can support between one and three taps, depending on its trunk diameter, and on average will produce 9.2 to 13.2 gallons of sap per season; this is roughly 7% of its total sap. Seasons last for four to eight weeks, depending on the weather, and sap is not tapped at night because the temperature drop inhibits sap flow. Maples can continue to be tapped for sap until the trees are over 100 years old.
The sugar in sap is stored as starch throughout the year. During the spring, the warm days and
cold nights help change these starches to sugars and the flow of sweet sap begins. Sap can only be harvested while it’s moving through the tree trunk.
Because of the long, cold winter, it was a late start for most sugarhouses in southern Maine this year, but as of Wednesday, March 4th, sap was running run for the first time. Central and Northern Maine had to wait because their seasons run a couple of weeks to almost a month behind the sugarhouses in the southern most part of the state. A sugarhouse, or sugar shack, is where the sap is boiled and is louvered at the top to vent the steam from the boiling sap.
Native Americans of Northeast American Continent developed the art of making sugar and syrup from the sap of the maple tree. For them it was the all-purpose seasoning, much as salt. It was also one of their staple foods, so valuable and portable it was often used as money. European settlers quickly learned about maple syrup, and had something very important to trade for the knowledge of making syrup — iron 
kettles. The Indians boiled the syrup by dropping red-hot stones into thick wooden containers full of sap. Production methods have been streamlined since colonial days, yet remain basically unchanged.
A recipe for you:
          Maple-Mustard Barbecue Sauce (from the Maine Maple Producers Association)
- 2 tablespoons Dijon-style prepared mustard or other strong mustard
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1 garlic clove, crushed through a press
- 1 teaspoon cracked black pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme leaves, crushed
- 1/3 cup Maine maple syrup
- 1/3 cup peanut oil or other bland oil
These posts are really interesting Noelle – the barbecue sauce sounds great 🙂
Easy to make and I love the maple flavor!
I love my Maine maple syrup… friend of mine’s family has a small maple tree farm back in Maine and I have some of that liquid gold 🙂 Thanks for another great post Noelle ~
You’re welcome! My husband won’t use anything but the real stuff on our pancakes and French toast!
Amen, I am the same way. 🙂
Great recipe, I love Maple syrup too.
Hope you’ll try it!
It talks a lot of sap to make syrup. I visited a sugar shack one spring when I was living in NH. Those vats were huge.
I’d like to see one up close and personal some time…
That’s so cool! I didn’t know a tree had to be so old before it could be tapped, and I didn’t realize how little each tree makes! It’s no wonder that the stuff is so expensive! 😉 I also love that the Native Americans developed the technique. How cool. Thanks for sharing!
Great history, yes?
Yeah! And delicious. 😉
we love the Québec maple syrup: it’s the only one we find in France, but it’s really yummy! 🙂
Close enough, geographically!
It would be a dream to have my own sugar maple. The idea of it in tap is the stuff of my imagination.
Plant a tree! Wait 30-40 years! Voila! syrup…
Hmm, now have I left it too late?
I think you may have, but remember 60 is the new 40, so there may still be time!
Great information, I actually learned something today. And the recipe sounds delicious, thanks for sharing.
Thank you, Cecilia! I used to be a teacher…
God, I wish I was more of a pancake person because this sounds amazing.
You can also use it on ice cream!
It’s frightful to admit, but I’m Canadian and have never seen maple syrup being tapped. I love it to pieces though. So much so that my mom sends me bottles in the mail. :3
What a good Mom!
Yup, I like having her around. 😛
Can I click ‘Like” a dozen times to show how much I like it?
Absolutely. When we were kids and there was fresh snow from a big storm, she sent us out with maple syrup and a spoon to make maple snow for dessert.
I used to live in New England, and tapping the sugar maples was the ultimate sign of spring. Thanks for rekindling a great memory.
You’re welcome!
I love maple syrup 🙂 I’ll be trying out your recipe 🙂