Yes for those lucky folks in Eastern Canada, the arrival of spring heralds the start of the maple syrup festivals. From Warkworth to Sunderland, the sap is running and the golden fluffy pancakes are dripping in the sweet amber liquid.

Canada produces about 85% of the world’s maple syrup, selling more than 32,500 tonnes to over 45 different countries. As a child I would go with my parents to the sugar bush and wait while the hot syrup was poured onto the snow then carefully wrapped around a popsicle stick. The golden toffee literally melted in my mouth.

The festivals taking place throughout southern Ontario during the month of March are a great opportunity to see and hear all about the production process. For example, an average tree will yield between 35 to 50 litres of sap to produce 1 to 1.5 litres of syrup. All maple syrup is graded by colour and number. Canada #1 Extra Light is the creme de la creme and is made from the first run of the season. It’s also the most expensive. Canada No.2 is an amber syrup and arrives near the end of the cycle. Canada No.3 is dark. A 50 ml serving of maple syrup contains 167 calories, 43 grams of sugar, 117 mg of potassium and 7 mg of sodium.

To find a festival in your area, click on Ontario Maple Syrup Festivals 2008 for more information. If you don’t happen to live in Ontario, you can join our online celebration at CottageDaily.com where all this week we will be featuring maple syrup recipes like Maple Syrup Barbecue and how the folks on Vancouver Island are producing a maple syrup that sells for over $100 a litre.

Cheers,

Julie

This entry was posted on Monday, February 25th, 2008 at 10:47 am and is filed under Entertaining, Food. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.