Incredible Ingredients…Maple Syrup by Nathalie Kyrou

Looking for something delicious and sweet, yet still good for you? Maple syrup, made from the sap of maple trees, is just the thing. A totally natural, pure syrup without any chemical agents or preservatives, maple syrup comes bottled in different grades describing how light or heavy the syrup is (sometimes referring to the varying shades of its amber colour).

Maple syrup was first collected and used by Native Americans; the Algonquins were the first to recognise the sap as a source of energy and nutrition. In the early days of colonisation, it was the Natives who showed French settlers how to tap the trunk of a tree at the outset of spring, harvest the sap and boil it to evaporate some of the water. This custom quickly became an integral part of colony life, and maple syrup became a major source of high quality pure sugar. Although its production is still generally based in Canada and the northern US (where freezing nights and warm days are ideal to induce sap flows), the syrup can be produced anywhere the trees are grown.

Most often eaten with waffles and pancakes, maple syrup can also used as an ingredient in baking, desserts, or as a sugar source and flavouring agent in beer or candy. Maple inspired meals and treats are tasty and healthy: drizzle maple syrup over ice-cream or cereal, or use it as a sweetener for making applesauce, baked beans, candied sweet potatoes, pies, biscuits and fudge. Bake salmon in maple syrup or glaze chicken with it. You can even add it to your smoothies or milkshakes.

A word of advice: forget the cheaper “maple-flavoured” table syrups, which are simply imitations full of unhealthy sugars. Real maple syrup is 100% pure, natural sweetness, with an irreplaceable and unique flavour.