Maple syrup is made from the xylem sap of sugar maple, black maple, or red maple trees, however it can also be made from other maple species. Maple syrup production is mainly located in northeastern North America; specifically the northeastern states (including New York, Vermont and Maine) and the southeastern parts of Quebec and Ontario, Canada. Given the correct weather conditions, it can be made anywhere in the habitat range of the maple trees. In cold environments, the trees store starch in their trunks and roots before the winter; the starch is then turned to sugar that rises in the sap in the spring.

The three species of maple trees are predominantly used to produce maple syrup are the sugar maple (Acer saccharum), the black maple (A. nigrum), and the red maple (A. rubrum). These species are preferred because of the high sugar content (roughly two to five percent) in the sap. Some botanists include the black maple as a subspecies of A. saccharum, the sugar maple. Red maple has a shorter season which alters the flavor of the sap because it buds earlier than sugar and black maples.

Maple syrup from the Mohawk Valley Trading Company comes in glass bottles and is made primarily from sugar maple sap, which is preferred for maple syrup production because it has an average sugar content of two percent. Sap from other maple species is usually lower in sugar content, and about twice as much is needed to produce the same amount of finished syrup.

The caloric content of maple syrup is similar to sugar. However 13 grams of maple syrup (a little less than a tablespoon) contains 22% of the FDA daily value of manganese. The same amount of syrup contains 3.7% of the daily value of zinc. Maple syrup has 15 times as much calcium as honey and 1/10 of the sodium.

Scientists are studying the natural phenols found in maple syrup for potentially beneficial antioxidant compounds relevant to type 2 diabetes. Thirty four new compounds have been discovered, 5 of which have never been seen in nature. One of those new compounds is quebecol, a phenolic compound created when maple sap is heated and reduced to make syrup.

You can buy Mohawk Valley Trading Company maple syrup and maple sugar on Amazon or at:

Fort Schuyler Trading Company

North Utica Shopping Center

50 Auert Ave.

Utica, N.Y. 13502-2326

Phone: 315-733-1043
Email: info@unundadages.com

If you’re not on our mailing list or receiving Member Mentions, please click here to sign up.