10. Native Americans were the first producers of maple syrup
Maple syrup was first produced by the indigenous tribes in North-Eastern America. Oral and archeological testimony confirms their production methods. Native tribespeople began processing sap into syrup and sugar long before French or English settlers set foot in North America.
No written records exist of the native tribes’ methods for converting sap into syrup, or how they used it to make their diet. Legend has it that maple syrup is a common addition to venison cooked and served by the chiefs of tribes. Native Americans had rituals centered around the processing of sugar and celebrated “sugar moon,” which occurs at the first full Moon in spring.
Tribal peoples used the “maple dance” to show respect for the maple tree.
Tribal members used tools to cut a v in the trunks of maple trees and reeds when the spring thaw started. They then collected the sap into buckets. During the festival sugar was used in place of salt and the Algonquians became the first people to use maple syrup as a nutritional source.
