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RE: If you go down in the Sugar Maple Woods Today, Be Prepared for a Big Surprise. You'll Find An Authentic Sugar Shack in Full Swing.
@rebeccaryan thanks for showing us how they do it
and how to make candies.. wonder what it tastes like fresh from the tree - out of the bottle
In my opinion, the process is similar to humans donating blood
I thought like vampires - with straws :D
Maple syrup in Canada is graded. Sap that was siphoned off at the beginning of the 8 week season is very light in maple flavour and in colour. The light syrup is what you would want to use in a recipe that you want to sweeten but that you don't want to change the visual appearance of the finished recipe...say like a salad dressing or a sauce. The darkest and the strongest maple flavour comes near the end of the season. This typically falls into a Grade B category and would be awesome to use in a recipe where it visually doesn't matter if the syrup changes the colour or you require a stronger maple flavour...say like a butter tart for example, or a maple glaze to be used over top of ham. The sap, straight out of the tree is only about 5% sugar, so it's like a slightly sweet water and it's completely clear. I think it would make an excellent sports drink. It actually reminds me of coconut water.
The way the syrup is finished reflects the flavour immensely. This particular family still fires their evaporator with wood. This gives the syrup an underlying "smokey" taste and it's what I prefer. Large operations use propane only and you don't get that earthy, I've come from the woods flavour. It doesn't "sing" IMHO.
Here in my area, people give out small bottles of syrup as their wedding favours...150 miniature bottles.
@rebeccaryan I see, I can almost imagine what it tastes like thanks a lot for the description !
You are most welcome. As you can see, we take our maple syrup quite seriously here. LOL!