A Sticky Situation- by Jeff Tribe

 There is something particularly special about making one’s own maple syrup.

A penultimate Canadian practice Indigenous Peoples generously shared with settlers, it represents the year’s first harvest from a bounteous natural world. Traditionally, Canada’s First People would let the spring’s opening run of sap pass, respectfully viewing it as ‘for the tree’ before tapping into its flow of delicious sweetness.

The ‘how’ has changed over the centuries. One can only imagine the patience and commitment required to make the 40-to-1 transition from sap to syrup using heated rocks. A progression from those determined origins through steel pot and on past multi-pan wood-fired evaporator to gas-powered works of stainless steel efficiency on the back end of reverse-osmosis technology, digital readouts rather than ‘flaking’ off a scoop indicating the magical moment syrup has arrived.

Maple syrup is big business in Canada. According to Quebec industry statistics, that province’s annual production, accounting for over 90 per cent of Canadian totals, contributes $1.1-billion in revenue. Syrup can also be involved in big crime, as proven by The Great Canadian Maple Syrup Heist of 2011 and 2012, a true story stranger in many ways than fiction.

Amongst the ranks of professionals, there’s still room for a rag-tag band of crazies hanging a few buckets on sugar maples to keep family traditions alive. Boiling on a kitchen stove is a thing quite probably done but once given the attendant sweet stickiness. Wiser to get by with a pot or pan over some concrete blocks, a propane-powered turkey deep fryer, naphtha camp stove or upgrade to a customized barrel wood stove and a stainless steel pan inside a ‘sugar shack’ framed out of a former children’s playground set.

Just focus on the end result, rather than input costs and hours of labour required.

Whether producing hundreds of gallons or a few jars for family and friends, the process is essentially the same: a lot of time, a lot of work and one hopes, some amount of quiet satisfaction and enjoyment. In between adding wood to the fire, there’s ample opportunity to ponder the vagaries of the universe or alternatively, enjoy a good book, one might suggest for example, Jay Lang’s ‘Little Blue,’ ‘Brides of Banff Springs’ by Victoria Chatham, or Donalee Moulton’s March, 2025 release, ‘Bind.’

If you listen to enough bubbling sap you might also be struck by the progressive parallels between syrup-making and reading a novel. 

While inserting spiles into trees or opening a book’s cover, there is a general sense of where things are going. However, differences from author to author, title to title or year to year are what makes the experience uniquely interesting. 

Both processes start with a sense of excitement, one tapping trees to begin a flow of sap, the other words unfolding with an introduction to compelling characters and the various factors and forces driving them. The plot and sap both thicken with time, gaining depth and colour, the boiler and reader increasingly engaged in the effort. 

The final stages, culmination of much work which has gone before, are the most crucial. Pushing thickened sap the few final degrees toward syrup is a delicate art, much as an author bringing together disparate plot lines, challenges and conflict into a satisfying conclusion.

And whether straight up in a bowl, over ice cream, enhancing the flavour of good, Canadian whiskey, or alternatively, read from the deck of a cottage, one’s favourite armchair - or in front of a bubbling pan of hot sap - both offer a valuable experience enjoyable in their own right. 

Tribe, Jeff - BWL Publishing Inc.