Pure Maple Syrup

!±8± Pure Maple Syrup

Maple syrup is a sweetener made from the sap of maple trees, and production is concentrated in the U.S. Northeast and southeastern Canada. Maple syrup made, where maple trees grow to be, and the season usually lasts 4-6 weeks in the spring. It 'was one of the first crops in Canada and in fact was the standard sweetener in pioneer families until about 1875

And 'divided into two great classes: Class A and Class B, and is sold by volume of liquid,not the weight, and is about 33 percent water and 67 percent sugar. You must be produced and labeled properly ordered, in accordance with the standards of the color scale by the State is in syrup (or province in Canada) approved.

Maple syrup is the preferred surface for pancakes, waffles and French toast in North America, and is sometimes further reduced to maple sugar, candy usually sold in pressed blocks, and make maple taffy. It can also be used for a variety ofuses, including: biscuits, chicken, fresh donuts, fried dough, fritters, ice cream, hot cereal, and fresh fruit (especially grapefruit).

Although most people use maple syrup in just one way, over pancakes or waffles, there are many, many ways to use it; as a sauce over ice cream or puddings, a natural glaze poured over ham, baked in the hollow of a winter squash, in many other dishes, and even in many elaborate "gourmet" recipes.

Pure maple syrup can be used in just about any recipe where sugar is called for, but contains more moisture than the granulated sugar which the recipe called for so adjustments must be made. For substitution in general cooking, use three-fourths the amount of maple syrup as sugar. When substituting for honey, use a one to one ratio. Pure maple syrup will tend to caramelize and burn on the top and around the edges before a batter using a solid sweetener like white granulated sugar. A tablespoon of contains 50 calories, 29 grams of carbohydrates, a negligible amount of sodium and no protein, fat, or cholesterol. It is an excellent source of manganese and a good source of zinc, which can be sweet for your health.

Pre-Columbian Native Americans, living in the northeastern part of North America, were the first people known to have produced maple syrup and maple sugar. They were used during the American Civil War and by abolitionists in the years prior to the war because most cane sugar and molasses was produced by Southern slaves. During food rationing in World War II, people in the northeastern United States were encouraged to stretch their sugar rations by sweetening foods with it, and recipe books were printed to help employ this alternate source. It became the household sweetener in the Canadian and American colonies throughout the nineteenth century, instead of refined white cane sugar, raw sugar, or molasses.

American tribes of the northeastern United States and southeast Canada first showed French and British settlers how to draw the sap of Acer saccharum, the sugar maple, and reduce it into a sweet, thick liquid known today as pure maple syrup. European settlers introduced iron and copper pots into the process, which allowed the sap to be heated longer, removing more of the water and producing the syrup we have today.