Store

Maple Foodways

Maple

Specialised

⚠ INDIGENOUS BEFORE IT WAS ANYTHING ELSE. Tapping maples and reducing the sap is a documented Indigenous practice of the north-eastern woodlands — Haudenosaunee, Anishinaabe, Abenaki, Mi’kmaq — that preceded European arrival, and the settlers learned it. The season is short, late winter into early spring, and needs freezing nights with thawing days, which is why it happens where it happens. About 40 litres of sap make one of syrup. Forms: syrup graded by colour, maple sugar (which stores where syrup does not), maple butter, TIRE SUR LA NEIGE — hot syrup poured on snow and rolled on a stick — maple taffy, and the CABANE À SUCRE meal of eggs, beans, ham, oreilles de crisse and pancakes drowned in it. ⚠ QUÉBEC, ONTARIO, NEW BRUNSWICK AND NOVA SCOTIA all produce; so does New England, and the tradition does not stop at the border.

Atlas — where and when

Where in the world

Communities and languages

  • Anishinaabe community documented
  • Haudenosaunee community documented

Languages: French, English, Ojibwe (Anishinaabemowin)

What is recorded

  • Tapping maple trees and reducing the sap is documented as an Indigenous practice of the north-eastern woodlands predating European arrival, learned by settlers. Approximately 40 litres of sap yield one litre of syrup. The season requires freezing nights and thawing days, which constrains it geographically. Production spans Québec, Ontario, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and New England and does not stop at the border. documented

Related foodways

This foodway relates to

  • originates from First Nations Foodways documented

    ⚠ Tapping maples and reducing the sap is documented Indigenous practice of the north-eastern woodlands that preceded European arrival.

Recorded as relating to this foodway

Recipes

No recipes are filed under this cuisine yet.