The custom of collecting maple water and boiling it to create syrup comes to us from the Amerindians. Long before the arrival of Europeans, they were savouring its invigorating and nutritive qualities. They would cut a rudimentary tap with a tomahawk and fix a wooden wedge below the notch, directing the maple water to a bark container. The Amerindians then boiled the collected sap in clay pots to obtain maple syrup.

In the spring, each family settled into a section of forest to harvest the maple water. In this sense, the principle of the maple grove existed long before the arrival of the first colonists.

It was the Amerindians who taught our ancestors how to tap a tree trunk at the beginning of spring, and how to collect and boil the sap.

The first settlers boiled the maple sap in iron cauldrons. Using rudimentary shelters for protection, they went “sugaring off”.

At the time, spouts were made of cedar wood. They were called “spiggots” or “spiles”. First they were beveled, then inserted into the tap. Maple farmers had to put on their snowshoes to collect the maple water from the buckets. Once they had accumulated enough water, they would head back to the “sugar shack” where the maple water was boiled.

Maple syrup was used to create the local sugar, today known as maple sugar. Sugar moulds hand-carved out of hardwood were used to make the sugar. They were passed down from generation to generation and today form part of Quebec’s historical heritage.

At the beginning of the 20th century, sugar shacks were still very basic. Several years would pass before the sugar shack as we know it began to appear.

Edmond J. Massicotte

As operations grew and harvesting techniques became more refined, the maple water sometimes had to be collected two or three times a day. Certain equipment was modified to adapt it to the new demands of this production method. The wooden bucket was replaced with an aluminium pail, and the traditional sugar shack began to change. The heavy iron cauldron gave way to an evaporator containing thermometers and a float to control the level and inflow of the maple water.

In the mid-1960's, technology made its entrance in the maple industry with the development of tube systems in Quebec’s maple groves. These plastic conduits replaced buckets, barrels, horses and tractors. Using a vacuum pumping system, maple water goes right from the tree through to the maple syrup storage reservoirs. Each spout is connected to this system and it starts automatically as soon as the temperature is high enough for the sap to flow.

Source: C.D.L. Inc. Maple grove equipment

The appearance of a technique called reverse osmosis in the 1980’s was another technological revolution. Using a reverse osmosis membrane to partially concentrate the maple water is in keeping with both the spirit and the letter of the law regarding maple products, as this technique cannot be considered refining. This technology concentrates the soluble elements in the maple water. It reduces production costs and labour time for maple farmers, but keeps intact the taste and qualities that have made maple products such natural and sought-after sweeteners for hundreds of years.