List of foods made from maple

U.S. maple syrup grades, left to right: Grade A Light Amber ("Fancy"), Grade A Medium Amber, Grade A Dark Amber, and Grade B

Maple trees provide maple sap, which is made into sugar and syrup. Several food products are created from the sap harvested from maple trees, which are incorporated into various foods and dishes. The sugar maple is one of the most important Canadian trees, being, along with the black maple, the major source of sap for making maple syrup.^[1] Other maple species can be used as a sap source for maple syrup, but some have lower sugar contents or produce more cloudy syrup than these two.^[1]

Foods made from maple

• Maple bar – an American rectangular doughnut topped with a maple glaze.^[2] Varieties of maple bars include Long Johns and Maple bacon donuts.
• Maple butter – also known as maple cream or maple spread, it is a confection made by heating maple syrup to 12  ²⁄₁₁°C (22 °F) above the boiling point of water, cooling it to around 52 °C (125 °F), and stirring it until it reaches a smooth consistency.^[3] It is usually made from Grade A Light Amber syrup (sometimes known as Fancy), and is a light tan color. A gallon of syrup can make about three kilograms of maple cream.
• Jaan Paan Liqueur – a sweet paan-flavored spirit/liqueur made with neutral grain spirit, Canadian maple syrup and a blend of herbs and spices, excluding areca nut.
• Maple liqueur – various alcoholic products made from maple syrup, primarily in the Northeast United States and Canada.

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  A maple bar, topped with bacon
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  Maple butter

Cubes of maple sugar being made in a sugar press mold

• Maple sugar – prepared from the sap of the sugar maple tree, it is a traditional sweetener in Canada and the northeastern United States. 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.^[4] Once almost all the water has been boiled off, all that is left is a solid sugar.^[5] Maple sugar was the preferred form of maple by First Nations/Native American peoples as the sugar could easily be transported and lasted a long time. It is called ziinzibaakwad by the Anishinaabeg.^[6] 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.^[7] Today, specialty candy shops still carry "maple sugar candy": an individual-consumption-sized block of compacted maple sugar, usually molded into the shape of a maple leaf.

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  Native Americans preparing maple sugar by boiling maple tree sap
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  Maple sugar being prepared at a maple sugar festival

• Maple syrup – In maple syrup production from the sugar maple, the sap is extracted from the trees using tap placed into a hole drilled through the phloem, just inside the bark. The collected sap is then boiled. As the sap boils, the water is evaporated off and the syrup left behind. 40 litres of maple sap are required to be boiled to produce only 1 litre of pure syrup. This is the reason for the high cost of pure maple syrup. Maple syrup is often eaten with pancakes, waffles, French toast, or oatmeal and porridge. It is also used as an ingredient in baking, and as a sweetener or flavoring agent.

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  Maple sap being collected in a bucket
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  Maple sap being transformed into maple syrup at a sugar shack in Pakenham, Ontario
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  Maple syrup in Quebec, Canada, packaged in a can with this distinctive design
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  Vermont maple syrup packaged in a tin issued by the Vermont Maple Sugar Makers' Association
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  A bottle of maple syrup from Quebec

• Maple taffy – also known as maple toffee, is a confection made by boiling maple sap past the point where it would form maple syrup but not so long that it becomes maple butter or maple sugar. It is sometimes prepared and eaten alongside during the making of maple syrup at a sugar house or cabane à sucre.

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  Maple taffy being prepared in West Quebec

See also

• Birch syrup
• Federation of Quebec Maple Syrup Producers
• Frog Run (maple syrup) – a term used in New England that refers to the last sap run of the sugaring season. This final run is the last good tree sap that can be distilled into maple syrup. It usually produces a very thick and darker grade of maple syrup.

References