MAPLE-SAP SIRTTP. 



INTRODUCTION. 

 ORIGIN AND NATURE OF MAPLE SIRUP. 



The manufacture of maple sirup probably dates back to a period 

 before the advent of the white man in this country. Henshaw, 

 Chamberlain, 6 and Sy c have reviewed many of the writings of the 

 early discoverers in which allusions are made to the preparation by 

 the Indians of a kind of sugar and sirup from the sap of the maple 

 tree. There is no agreement, however, as to who discovered the fact 

 that this tree possesses a sweet sap. Some claim that the French 

 taught the Indians how to make the sirup and sugar, and others that 

 the Indians taught the white people, the latter theory appearing to 

 be the more probable one. The sirup manufactured from the sap of 

 the maple tree has become a staple article concerning whose character 

 and constitution there is considerable discussion. Obviously the sap 

 of a living maple tree, boiled down to the proper consistency (see 

 pages 8 and 60), without the addition of any foreign substance 

 other than the usual cleansing materials, is a maple sirup. However, 

 a maple sirup may also be made by dissolving in water the solid or 

 semisolid product resulting from boiling the sap down to the point 

 of crystallization, with or without the use of cleansing agents. The 

 latter is a maple-sugar sirup while the former is a maple-sap sirup 

 both are maple sirups. It is wrong to style a sirup made by dissolving 

 maple sugar a maple-sap sirup. True, it has come originally from the 

 maple sap, but by evaporating further, making sugar and then dissolv- 

 ing it in water, the taste and color have been changed somewhat and 

 it becomes a maple-sugar sirup. Buyers classify sirup as "sap " sirup 

 and " sugar" sirup, and claim that by taste and consistency they are 

 able to distinguish one from the other. 



The sap of the tree is obtained by tapping it; chopping down the 

 tree and then extracting the dead wood with water does not yield 

 a sap, nor does an extract prepared from maple wood, cut and 

 cured under ordinary conditions, contain any appreciable amounts 



Amer. Anthropologist, 1890, 3 : 341. 



6 Ibid., 1891, 4: 39. 



c J. Frank. Inst., October, 1908. 



