Canada

III: Canadian Culture

Part 4: Culinary Culture: Maple Syrup

Introduction:
The maple leaf is a national emblem of Canada visible on its flag and national coat of arms, yet it was the aboriginal peoples who discovered that maple sap could be turned into syrup and eaten, long before any European settlers arrived in Canada. The process of maple syruping, or sugaring off, was learned by settlers throughout Canada and the United States and became an important springtime activity, still practiced today. A whole array of traditions sprang up around this activity, creating seasonal celebrations that involved families migrating to the sugar bush, tapping maple trees, making maple syrup and enjoying the syrup in a variety of sweet and savory recipes. The sugaring off season is still prevalent in many areas of the Midwest and East coast of the US. Although maple syruping is important culturally and economically to all of Canada, the province of Québec is the leading producer of maple syrup in the nation. Québec annually produces more than five million gallons of maple syrup. This represents more than ten times the maple production of the rest of Canada combined, which translates to over 154 million dollars Canadian annually. Beyond its economic impact, the sugaring off time is an important element of the social fabric in Québec. There are approximately 400 syrup operations in Québec most of which welcome visitors for tours of the sugar bush, provide an explanation of the syruping process and hearty meals that incorporate maple syrup. Maple festivals abound in Québec, including the famous Festival Beauceron de L'Erable, in Saint Georges which draws more than 50,000 people a year. The maple season is a time to revisit the heritage of Québec, to reunite with family and friends, and to enjoy the songs and traditions Québécois culture. In the classroom, maple syrup can be an avenue for exploration in numerous disciplines—social studies, science, biology, art, or culinary arts. It is relevant to units related to colonial America, folk art, renewable resources, the anatomy of trees, traditional folkways, traditions of the Midwest, native peoples, etc. The Resources section contains many teaching resources for incorporating maple trees and the process of creating maple syrup into your classroom.

Overview:
Using images of Works Progress Administration (WPA) murals as examples, students will create a mural that depicts the different aspects of maple syrup, such as the tree's production of sap, the process of gathering sap and processing it into syrup, the history of maple production including the role of native peoples, the maple sugar shacks, or cabanes a sucre, the celebrations at the sugaring off time in March, and maple syrup in cuisine.

Procedure:

1. Depending on your subject area, there are many ways to introduce students to maple syrup and the process of turning sap into syrup. After completing the lesson on the Canadian flag from Section I, this lesson would serve as a more in-depth examination of the significance of maple to Canadians. In a biology or science class, you may want to begin with the anatomy of a maple tree. In a social studies class, the history and origins of processing maple syrup would dovetail with a study of native peoples or colonial America. In an art class, many of the images of paintings depicting sugaring off time in the Resources Section would fit in a unit on folk art. The sugaring off time or maple season would fit in with a study of the seasons or a unit on celebrations of different cultures. Many of the Web sites in the Resource Section will provide you and your students with a thorough overview of the history of maple syrup and the process of turning sap into maple syrup.
2. Next, if students are not familiar with the concept of a mural, you may want to explain the term and show them some examples. The murals of Diego Rivera are a good starting point. Many of the WPA artists were inspired by his work, so it is a relevant connection.
3. A brief introduction to the Works Progress Administration and its program of public art and viewing of sample murals is all that is absolutely essential for students to complete this lesson, but depending on time you may want to give a more in-depth overview. Many of the WPA murals depict work and these might be good examples to show students because the subject matter is similar in nature to the sugaring off process.
4. In order to prepare students to begin work on the mural, you may want to divide them into groups and assign each group one aspect of the process of turning sap into maple syrup. Topics for exploration could include: tapping the tree—drilling the holes, inserting the spouts or spiles--carrying the sap to the sugar house or shack, boiling the sap, the “kettle system” of evaporation of sap, bottling the syrup, grading the syrup, or cooking with the finished syrup. Students could be responsible for reading an article or taking a virtual tour about the process and identifying the steps in the process, or, to save time, these parts of the process might already be listed on the board or on a handout. Each group could then research its assigned part of the maple syrup process to determine how their aspect of the process worked and what tools were used. This knowledge will be necessary in order for students to accurately depict their part of the syruping process in the mural.
5. Students will need to discuss how their group plans to represent its part of the process as a whole. Once this has been decided, and perhaps a quick sketch has been made, students can begin drawing their section of the mural. Each group might want to work on a separate piece of paper that will eventually be combined into the larger mural that depicts the entire sugaring off process.
6. Students could explain their section of the mural in an oral or written form.

Extensions:
Depending on the time constraints and resources, students could:

• Create an audio documentary or audio guide to explain what is depicted in the mural
• Tap a maple tree and make syrup as a class (See Resources Section for information).
• Use maple syrup as an ingredient in recipes, such as maple snow candy (See Resources Section for recipes).
• Create separate murals or other parts of the mural that depict other traditional folkways such as apple or blueberry picking, rice harvesting, carding and spinning wool, candle making, etc.
• Investigate other traditional folkways occurring in your area.
• Design and create a bottle and label for a brand of maple syrup.
• Design an advertisement for a brand of maple syrup.
• Research WPA murals in your community.
• Compare the way different artists depict maple sugaring season.
• Design a cabane a sucre, or sugar shack.
• Design a menu for a cabane a sucre, or sugar shack, restaurant that includes a variety of dishes that include maple syrup (See Resources Section for recipes).

Resources:
(Links will open in new windows.)

WPA Murals

New Deal Art through the Great Depression is an extensive list of sites, exhibitions, and resources about WPA murals. It contains an index by state of WPA murals and images.

The Harlem Hospital's WPA Murals image gallery.

WPA Sin Nombre: Hispana and Hispano Artists of the New Deal Era includes images of murals and biographies of muralists as well as artists working in other mediums.

Teaching Ideas for WPA post office murals.

The Smithsonian American Museum of Art has 206 WPA postal murals in its collection. Type “postal murals” into the search box for information and images.

“The By the People, For the People: Posters from the WPA, 1936-1943 collection consists of 908 boldly colored and graphically diverse original posters produced from 1936 to 1943 as part of Franklin Delano Roosevelt's New Deal. Of the 2,000 WPA posters known to exist, the Library of Congress's collection of more than 900 is the largest.”

General Maple Resources and Lessons
The Federation of Québec Maple Syrup Producers Web site, Siropcool for Kids, is an animated journey through all aspects of maple syrup led by Siropcool, a drop of maple syrup. This site includes a video that explains how maple is created, cartoons, recipes, pictures to print and color, and a quiz, all in a very kid-friendly format. In French and English.

The Siropcool for Teachers Web site includes information and lesson for teachers.

The International Site on Maple

Maple Sugaring and Technology: A Unit Plan includes a history, links and images.

A list of print teaching resources available from the Massachusetts Maple Association.

Penn State's Sustainable Forestry Teaching Resources include several lessons on maple syrup.

The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources Web site contains a list of ideas for bringing maple syrup into the classroom, including recipes.

History and Origins of Maple Syrup
A thorough history of maple syrup in Canada.

A history of maple syrup in the US and Canada.

Several origin myths about maple:
The Algonquian Indian Legend
Early Indian Legend and Lore
Sugar Bush

A history of maple syrup in Canada.

A history of maple syrup that emphasizes the role of native peoples.

Maple Syrup Production
A thorough and illustrated explanation of maple syrup production.

Cornell University's Virtual Tour of maple production is informative and has lots of great images.

The Ohio State School of Natural Resources Fact Sheet on producing maple syrup as a hobby has lots of good information, and this resource could be used for a class project of making maple syrup.

The University of Maine's informative pamphlet “How to Tap Maple Trees and Make Maple Syrup.”

Graph showing the amounts of maple produced throughout Canada.

Maple Syrup Recipes
An index of recipes all containing maple.

Another index of recipes containing maple.

The Maple Producers Association of Nova Scotia recipe index.

The Michigan Maple Association's webpage of recipes.

A recipe for maple syrup snow candy for kids.

A recipe from Cooking with Kids for Mashed Maple Syrup Apples

Sugaring Off Time in Art
The Maple Sugar Paintings of Eastman Johnson

William Breedon's painting, “The Sugar Bush”

“Sugaring Off” by Grandma Moses

Currier and Ives' “Maple Sugaring” and “American Forest Scene: Maple Sugaring”

Patrick DesJarlait's painting, “Maple Sugar Time” painted in 1946 shows an Ojibwe family sugaring maple.

Michael McGovern's “Sugaring” painting.

Sugaring Off Time

The official Web site of the Festival Beauceron de L'Erable.

An explanation of sugar shacks.

A brief history of sugaring off time in Canada.

Another discussion of sugaring off time in Canada.

Slow Food International's Web site includes the article “Maple Syrup: A Unique Culinary Ingredient.”

The sap journal of the Sugar Moon Farm in Nova Scotia.

The Great Lakes' Radio Consortium has several interesting segments on maple syrup, which students can read or listen to:

The story, Tapping into Maple Syrup, discusses most Americans' preference for store-bought syrup over real maple syrup. Your students might enjoy trying a similar experiment in class or at home with maple syrup or any other traditional or store-bought food.

Maple Syrup Flows with Tradition discusses how maple syrup production techniques have changed very little over time.

Maple Syrup Starts to Flow describes the effects of warm weather on the production of maple.

This song by Canadian Michael Mitchell about the sugaring off time can be played for students.

General Food Resources
This site offers over 100 lesson and unit plans that focus on food, food history, the economics of food, food production, food of other cultures, food psychology, food science, and the advertising of food and food packaging.

Feeding Minds, Fighting Hunger offers lesson plans from elementary to high school level that introduce students to the problems of hunger and malnutrition.