Maple cough syrup. Maple syrup - benefits and harms

In this article, we are talking about such a unique product as maple syrup. It is made from the sap of the sugar maple tree and is a natural sweetener. Maple syrup contains no preservatives, no flavors, no added sugar. This is a truly environmentally friendly product, rich in minerals and vitamins.

In Russia, this product, unfortunately, is not yet as popular as, for example, in Canada or the USA. In these countries, it is served as an additive to various dishes - waffles, pancakes, ice cream, candies, all kinds of sauces are prepared from it, vegetable and meat dishes are seasoned. For Canada, as you know, maple is even a national symbol. 90% of the syrup is produced in this country. The main production facilities are concentrated in the province of Quebec. Canadians even established a holiday dedicated to this product. It's called Sugar Hut Day.

The North American Indians knew about maple syrup. They replaced sugar with them and prepared refreshing drinks. He immediately fell in love with the first settlers from Europe.

Getting juice

Now, to obtain this product, almost all the same processes are used as before. Harvesting is carried out in the spring, it is at this time that maple sap is most useful and has excellent taste. A small depression is made in the tree trunk, where a special tube is inserted through which the liquid will flow into the container. It is very reminiscent of collecting birch sap in our area. One tree can serve as a source of maple sap for many, many years. It doesn't harm him at all. Next, prepare the syrup.

To get 1 liter of syrup, you need about 40 liters of juice. It has the consistency of fresh honey. It can be transparent or translucent with an amber tint.

What are the health benefits of maple syrup?

By international standards, two-thirds of maple syrup should be sugar. Naturally, we are now talking not about ordinary sugar, the addition of which is strictly prohibited, but about the one that remains after the juice has been evaporated. This product is very nutritious. 100 grams of syrup contains approximately 260 calories.

Recently, American scientists from Rhode Island conducted an interesting study. His results showed that in the composition of maple syrup there are 54 useful elements at once. At the same time, the researchers do not exclude that they could even miss something. All these components benefit the human body.

There are also unique substances in maple syrup that are no longer found in the natural environment. For example, this is far from the well-known Quebecol. Chemists attributed it to the so-called phenolic group of compounds. Thanks to this element, maple syrup has a sweet taste, but it does not harm diabetics at all.

Fact! Despite the fact that this product is rich in carbohydrates, its glycemic index is very low.

Beneficial features:

1. Abscisic acid, which this product is rich in, has a positive effect on the pancreas, stimulating its work, accelerating the release of insulin. Scientists hope that over time, maple syrup may become the basis of medicines for this organ.
2. Maple syrup has also shown itself well in the fight against inflammatory processes that affect various bodies. It helps cleanse the circulatory system and even kills cancer cells. This amazing product has a positive effect on the human immune system and slows down the progression of neurodegenerative diseases.
3. Maple syrup is especially beneficial for the strong half of humanity. The fact is that it reduces the risk of prostate cancer and enhances potency. And all thanks to the fact that in the composition this product there is a lot of zinc and manganese.
4. The positive effect of maple syrup on the condition of the heart has also been proven.
5. Some people use it topically to improve the condition of their skin.

Maple syrup is a great alternative to jam or marmalade, which do not bring much benefit to our health. And sometimes even hurt him. Residents of Canada will confirm this, because they eat it almost daily.

How to choose a quality product?

When buying maple syrup, you need to be careful to get a really high-quality product. It must be made in Canada. Only in this state there is a special body that tightly controls manufacturers and does not let low-quality products on the market. It is desirable that the syrup be light. Then it has a more delicate aroma and taste. If a liter of maple syrup costs less than $70, then most likely you are not looking at a very high-quality product. It is better not to save in this case.

Maple syrup for weight loss

There is also effective diet maple syrup based. Its creators claim that in this way you can lose about 9-10 kilograms. It is said that many celebrities are sitting on it, including Gwyneth Paltrow, Beyoncé, Naomi Campbell.

In addition to maple syrup, you will also need lemon, cayenne pepper (chili) and plain water. Mix a glass of water with 2 tablespoons maple syrup, 2 tablespoons lemon juice and 1/6 teaspoon cayenne pepper. For a day you need to drink about ten glasses of this mixture. In addition, some also take laxatives. Before you go on such a diet, it would still be better to consult with your doctor, so as not to harm your health.

When can maple syrup be harmful?

In order for the use of maple syrup to bring only benefits, you do not need to abuse it. If you eat it in exorbitant doses, you can increase blood sugar to dangerous levels and even earn yourself diabetes. You also need to remember that maple syrup, although it contains a lot of useful substances, it will not replace, for example, fruits. Watch your portion sizes and only buy quality products.

Video: maple syrup - Canadian dessert

Maple syrup represents useful product(see photo) obtained from natural sap of red, black or sugar maple. Currently, they are actively replacing sugar, since this syrup is very sweet in taste. It also has an amber color and a thick transparent consistency. That is why processed maple sap is very similar to bee honey. Despite the fact that maple syrup is native to North America, it is appreciated all over the world.

This type of syrup is obtained by evaporating natural maple sap, which is usually obtained in early spring. At this time of the year, holes are made in maple trees by sap collectors. Tubes are introduced into them, through which the maple liquid gradually passes into a pre-prepared container. Then the extracted juice is sent for processing, during which it is evaporated until the syrup becomes thick. Maple sap is eighty percent water and usually takes at least two hours to evaporate. Forty liters of maple sap can only produce one liter of amber syrup. However, given that maple trees are not damaged when collecting maple liquid, it is possible to extract raw materials for making syrup from one trunk annually.

How to choose and store maple syrup?

Not many people know how to choose and store maple syrup correctly. We offer right now to figure out how to distinguish real maple syrup from imitation.

First of all, you should always focus on the consistency of maple syrup. The liquid must be only transparent or translucent. If the liquid is cloudy, the product is not worth buying. In addition, it is imperative to consider the label of the container that contains the syrup. It must indicate the country supplying the product, as well as the name of the manufacturer. There should also be a golden maple leaf on the syrup container. This is a Canadian label that certifies the authenticity of maple syrup.

In addition, real syrup, made from natural maple sap, will never be cheap. As mentioned earlier, out of forty liters of maple sap, only one liter of syrup can be obtained. This explains the high cost of this product. It is also worth paying attention to the fact that a light woody note must be present in the taste of real maple syrup. If it's just sweet, then it's probably fake, made with artificial maple essence and corn syrup.

Maple syrup can be stored in the refrigerator or at room temperature. In the latter case, the product must be kept exclusively in hermetically sealed containers. After unpacking, maple syrup is recommended to be poured into a glass or plastic container and sent to a cool room for storage. Under all conditions, the shelf life of this product can reach three years.

How to cook with your own hands at home?

To make maple syrup with your own hands at home, you will need to be patient in advance. The process of preparing this product is quite lengthy, and that is why, first of all, it requires patience. First of all, natural maple sap is extracted. To do this, you need to wait for the arrival of spring to look after a large and healthy maple. From diseased trees, as well as from those trees on which buds began to bloom, it is not recommended to extract juice. After the maple trunk is selected, small cuts are made in it, the depth of which should not be more than eight centimeters. Special iron spouts are introduced into the drilled places, and tubes are already inserted into them. From one hole in a maple, you can collect up to three liters of juice in one day.

The collected raw materials must be immediately sent for processing. First, the juice must be filtered, as it may contain remains of bark or other rubbish. Then the product is poured into a wide container with a non-stick coating and put on fire for evaporation. This usually takes several hours. Note! If you evaporate homemade syrup for a long time, then it will turn out to be too thick and in the future it will simply become sugary. If the product is made too rare, then it will have a short shelf life. In addition, it is recommended to boil the juice outside, since during the boiling process, sweet steam evaporates, which subsequently settles on objects in the room and makes them sticky. The finished syrup cools down a little, is distributed into jars and hermetically sealed.

Application

The use of maple syrup is widespread in America and Canada. In these parts of the world, processed maple sap is very commonly used for culinary and cosmetic purposes. There are many ways to use this product, and you will learn about them right now!

In cooking

In cooking, maple syrup is used very extensively. Its sweet taste and pleasant smell are in perfect harmony with pastries, fruits, meat and even fish. That is why there are many different dishes that include this versatile product. If you do not know how to use maple syrup for culinary purposes, then be sure to take a look at the table below. It offers very tasty and at the same time incredibly simple recipes using this product.

Name	Ingredients
apples baked with maple syrup	Six apples, six tablespoons each of raisins and ground walnuts, a pinch of ground cinnamon, one glass of water and half a glass of maple syrup.	To begin with, the fruits are washed, after which the core is cut out, and the resulting holes are filled with a mixture of raisins, nuts and cinnamon. Stuffed apples are laid out on a baking sheet, poured with syrup diluted with water, and sent to the oven for half an hour. During the baking process, it is recommended to sprinkle the dessert from time to time with maple sauce. The finished delicacy is served to the table with ice cream.
chicken with maple syrup	Chicken, two hundred grams of pecans, one hundred milliliters of maple syrup, one pinch of coarse salt and ground cinnamon, one tablespoon of water.	First, nuts, salt, cinnamon, water and seventy-five milliliters of maple syrup are mixed in one container. Then the resulting mixture is laid out on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper and baked for fifteen minutes at a temperature of two hundred degrees. Meanwhile, the bird is being prepared, after which it is also placed in the oven for sixty minutes. Next, the chicken is well coated with the baked mixture, sprinkled with the rest of the syrup and brought to readiness for the next thirty minutes. Served hot meat dish with baked potatoes.
maple cupcakes with apples	Two chicken eggs, one hundred grams butter, three hundred and twenty-five grams of finely chopped apples, two hundred and twenty-five milliliters of maple syrup, six hundred and seventy-five grams of flour, one tablespoon of baking powder, one teaspoon each of crushed cinnamon, salt and nutmeg powder.	To make this delicious apple dessert, you need to beat eggs with butter well. After that, maple syrup and chopped apples should be added to the resulting mass. Next, the mixture must be supplemented with powdered cinnamon, sifted flour, baking powder, ground nutmeg and rock salt. The workpiece must be mixed well and packaged in cupcake molds. Bake this dessert for twenty-five minutes.
maple syrup cookies	Two hundred and fifty grams of flour, one hundred grams of butter, seventy-five grams of sugar, egg, a pinch of baking powder, seventy-five milliliters of maple syrup.	To make this unusual cookie, you need to beat butter with granulated sugar in one bowl. Then syrup and an egg are added to the mixture, after which everything is mixed well again. The resulting workpiece should be supplemented with flour and baking powder. The dough is thoroughly kneaded, placed in a bag and put in the refrigerator for one hour to infuse. After that, maple leaf cookies are made from the mass and sent to the oven preheated to one hundred and eighty degrees for ten minutes. Before serving, the finished pastries are cooled and poured with maple sauce.
maple syrup salad	One hundred grams of broccoli, two red apples, one hundred and twenty grams of grape fruits, half a red onion, olive oil and maple syrup (two tablespoons each), ten grams of ginger, five tablespoons of apple cider vinegar, a tablespoon of Dijon mustard, salt (to taste) .	First of all, prepare the sauce for dressing the salad. Syrup, mustard, salt, oil and vinegar are mixed in one container, and finely chopped ginger root is added to the resulting mixture. Then the cabbage is cut and placed in the finished sauce. Chopped onions, grapes, apples and nuts are also added there. Everything is well mixed and served to the table.
salmon in maple syrup	Seven hundred grams of salmon fillet, a glass of maple syrup, sixty milliliters soy sauce 1/4 cup ground black pepper vegetable oil(for baking).	The fish is well washed, cut into portions, placed in a mixture of syrup and soy sauce. After that, the workpiece is covered cling film and put in the refrigerator for twenty-four hours for impregnation. The next day, the salmon is carefully sprinkled with pepper, laid out on a baking sheet covered with foil and greased with oil and sent to the oven preheated to two hundred and sixty degrees for five minutes. The dish should be served immediately after preparation.

In addition, various puffs, buns, cocktails and even cakes are prepared with maple syrup. All desserts, which include this product, have a unique taste and aroma.

Often processed maple sap is used as a sweet sauce. They are poured over pancakes, pancakes and various cakes. Due to the fact that the calorie content of this product is low, many of them also replace sugar. It is added to tea, coffee and other hot drinks.

In cosmetology

In cosmetology, maple syrup literally works wonders. This product has regenerative properties and is able to make the skin perfect and the hair luxurious. Today it is absolutely not necessary to buy professional masks, balms to give the body beauty. You can perfectly do with homemade cosmetics, which are very easy to create with your own hands exclusively from natural ingredients. In the table below, you can find recipes for the best cosmetics, in which maple syrup is an indispensable component.

Name
moisturizing face and neck mask	To create this delicious remedy, you will need to combine two teaspoons of honey and maple syrup in one dish. You also need to add a small tablespoon. oatmeal, a spoonful of yogurt and two teaspoons of pre-brewed green tea. It is recommended to keep the finished mask on the skin for no more than twenty minutes.
hair shine mask	In this case, you need to prepare the pulp of two mangoes, twenty grams of ground coffee beans, fifty milliliters of maple syrup, two quail eggs and a small spoonful of ground cinnamon. All ingredients must be mixed, chopped with a blender and applied to the hair. Rinse off the mask after an hour with warm water.
lip balm	To make this product, you need to melt nine grams of jojoba wax with six grams of passionflower oil. In another bowl, beat shea butter and mango butter (twelve grams each). Next, the two ready-made mixtures need to be combined and beat well again. After that, a mixture prepared from two grams of maple syrup and fifteen grams of castor oil is added to the mass. The product is whipped to an airy consistency, transferred to a suitable vessel and used as a colorless lipstick. The shelf life of this balm reaches six months.

Another benefit of maple syrup is that it can be used as a weight loss aid. In this case, it is required to adhere to a special diet, which was invented in the 20th century by the American folk healer Stanley Burroughs. So, to get rid of extra pounds, you need to prepare a special cocktail, which should include half a glass of purified water, a pinch of crushed red pepper and two tablespoons of real maple syrup and natural lemon juice. You just need to mix these components, and you need to use the finished cocktail every morning for five days. Please note: if you follow this maple diet, meat must be excluded from the daily diet!

What to replace?

What can replace maple syrup? - this question often worries those people for whom this product is not suitable for some reason, but they really want to cook something original and tasty. So, if you cook dishes that do not need to be subjected to high heat treatment, then you can replace maple syrup with ordinary honey or agave syrup.

As for baking, maple syrup is replaced by carob syrup and any jam. With these substitutes, pies and buns come out no less tasty and healthy.

If you are preparing a marinade for meat, then you can use Narsharab pomegranate sauce as a substitute. It will enrich meat dishes with an unusually pleasant sourness and a very appetizing burgundy hue.

Useful properties, harm and contraindications

O useful properties maple syrup can be told for a very long time. This product includes many different antioxidants and vital chemical elements(potassium, zinc, phosphorus, calcium, etc.). Another natural maple syrup is rich in B vitamins, which are responsible for the proper functioning of the human body.

It has been scientifically proven that boiled maple sap can be consumed in the following cases:

• for the treatment of diseases of the heart and blood vessels;
• to strengthen immunity;
• to increase potency;
• for the treatment of atherosclerosis.

The great thing is that processed maple sap contains virtually no compounds such as oxalates and purines. This indicates that this product cannot cause allergies.

Maple syrup can harm the body only if consumed in unlimited quantities. This is due to the fact that this product contains quite a lot of glucose. In diabetes, maple syrup is recommended to drink with caution.

The only contraindication of this healthy sweet sauce is its individual intolerance.

Maple syrup - very delicious product, which is useful for both adults and children. In the latter case, the amount of syrup consumed per day must be limited. Give children no more than three tablespoons of this product per day.

Oh, these things to me, bro! It happens that you go into a supermarket - and your eyes run wide when you see all these unfamiliar, but alluring products. So I would have bought something unusual for myself: you take one thing in your hands, then another, turn it around, twist it - and back to the shelf. Looks interesting, but what to do with this exotic? Where is her? Suddenly spend - and to no avail? There will be another exhibit in your refrigerator next to terribly spicy pickled peppers and ketchup, which you bought the month before last, but for some reason you didn’t finish it, and now you don’t want to touch it at all - even to throw it away.

One of those alluring things is undoubtedly maple syrup. How many times have you heard about it in American films, you can't count it: these guys stick it everywhere! Or maybe, what the hell is not kidding, you have tried maple donuts or maple waffles in some coffee shop - and this is where your knowledge of maple syrup ends. Why is he so good and what to do with him at all? Today we will figure it out.

How maple syrup is made

The birthplace of maple syrup is North America - and all because it is made from the sap of maple trees that grow only on the North American continent. This delicacy is obtained from the sap of sugar, red and black maples growing in the southwest of Canada and in a number of US states - for example, in Vermont, whose symbol is not for nothing the maple leaf.

Making maple syrup is a whole science. To make it, you need to work hard. It all starts with the collection of maple sap, which takes place at a very specific time: the optimal conditions are when the temperature rises above zero during the day and drops below at night. As a rule, this happens from the end of February to the end of April. The temperature difference in this case is favorable, because in such conditions the tree gives off more juice.

To get maple sap, small holes are drilled in the tree trunk (up to one and a half centimeters in diameter and up to five centimeters deep) and special tubes are inserted into them, through which the juice enters the vessels. Sounds like birch sap harvesting, right, dude?

The collected juice must be processed immediately: it is an extremely perishable product. Therefore, thoughtful Canadians build special “steam rooms” right among the maples. Maple syrup is made right at the checkout! And it happens in the following way.

Freshly harvested maple sap is placed in special containers and ... evaporated. This happens long and tedious: the juice spends long and tedious hours in a special evaporator before it becomes a full-fledged syrup. At the same time, an absolutely incredible amount of water is evaporated: to get one liter of maple syrup, you need about 40 liters of juice (therefore, by the way, this sweetness is not cheap, do not expect to get it for less than 300 rubles). How many maples do you need to "milk" to produce a delicacy on an industrial scale

The product is considered ready when the amount of sugar in it reaches 66%. If we continue to evaporate the water further, crystallization will begin, and we will get maple caramels on the exhaust. When the finished syrup cools, it is passed through a filter, removing traces of crystallized sugar - and the delicacy is ready. I wonder if it is possible to do something similar with our birch trees? Imagine, bro, what an exotic: “Birch syrup. Spirit of Russia".

Note: when we described to you the process of making this syrup, we did not say a word about additives, because they simply do not exist in (real) maple syrup. No sugar, no colorants, no thickeners, no preservatives, nothing of the sort. Only maple syrup - and no fraud! In Canada, there is even a special state commission that controls the quality of the syrup: they take such a responsible approach to the production of delicacies from the symbol of the country.

Benefits of maple syrup

This is what Canadians are trying for their famous maple syrup! We thought that they didn’t start all this in vain: no one would start such a hassle from scratch. What is so good about this notorious maple syrup?

Maple syrup is (wow!) a healthy sweetener. It is not as high-calorie as sugar - if you work hard in a rocking chair, then this information will certainly benefit you. And maple syrup does not raise blood sugar levels, so it is often recommended for diabetics - too useful information, it is worth winding on a mustache.

In addition, maple syrup contains a lot of useful substances: iron, potassium, magnesium, phosphorus, calcium and B vitamins. healthy dish, such as fried chicken, can be improved with the same syrup. Yes, imagine, it is added not only to desserts!

And now what to do with it?

So, having learned about the beneficial properties of maple syrup, you still dared and bought it. What to do with him now?

The taste of maple syrup is quite interesting: it resembles caramel and at the same time gives off a tree. The easiest way is to pour them on anything: pancakes, pancakes, ice cream, pastries. You can use it instead of sugar by adding tea or coffee. Another great way to consume maple syrup is to put a couple of teaspoons in warm milk if you have a cold (or cold milk for nothing). Since maple syrup is very useful, it will be a good substitute for the usual honey in this role; This is especially true if you have allergies.

And you can cook something with it. We already told you about the cool man maple syrup sandwich, but this is far from the end!

For example, when you bake chicken in the oven (and bros dare to do this), you can coat it with maple syrup in the last half hour. You can stew meat with it. You do everything as usual, but add syrup to the main dish (do not forget to dilute it with water in a ratio of 1: 2). By the way, it goes well with nuts - you can throw them into the meat at the same time. Don't be afraid to experiment!

For a friend, you can also make a surprise: you take apples, cut out the core from them, put the filling inside: walnuts, raisins, cinnamon - and pour maple syrup mixed with water on top (water, again, should be twice as much as syrup). Then you put these fellows in the oven for half an hour - and that's it.

And this is how the cool American Kreayshawn eats syrup. If you're still hesitating about whether or not to try this curiosity, dude, it will help you make a decision.

Maple syrup is a thickened sap obtained by evaporating the juice of deciduous trees from the Sapindaceae family: sugar maple, red maple and black maple. These types of maples grow in North America and reach a height of thirty meters and a diameter of one meter.

Maple syrup is a translucent or transparent thick, fragrant, viscous liquid that can be compared to amber honey in consistency. At different stages of syrup evaporation, sugar, butter and maple honey are obtained from it.

Story

Maple sap production is most developed in Canada, where sugar maple grows in forests everywhere. It even became a national symbol: the image of a maple leaf can be seen on the national flag of the country. Quebec is the main producer of syrup.

The tradition of collecting maple sap to the current inhabitants of Quebec came from the Indians, who many years ago noticed the miraculous benefits of maple syrup and developed recipes for its manufacture over several generations.

There are many traditions associated with collecting maple sap. So, for example, with the beginning of the gathering season, the inhabitants of local villages arrange a Seeing off of winter. This holiday is called “Boar-a-sucre”, and translated from French means “Sugar hut”. In the immediate vicinity of maple sap collection sites, residents set up temporary houses and tables for guests, install equipment for making various sweets using sap. This holiday is very revered by the locals. Children love to eat treats with maple syrup: pancakes with peasant butter and syrup, forest snow drenched in a sweet delicious liquid, maple caramels made right there, right in front of people. And adults prefer more meat dishes, which are also prepared right on the spot - ham with cloves baked in maple syrup, beans with ham and brisket in sweet maple sauce and, of course, country beer made on the basis of maple juice.

It is also interesting that, despite the development of technologies that allow automating almost all processes in the food industry, the collection of juice and the preparation of maple syrup today is carried out exclusively by hand. This gives it a special and unique taste, and dishes prepared with its addition - a unique charm.

In many ways, the process of extracting maple sap is similar to obtaining birch sap. A special diagonal cut is made on maple, into which a stainless steel gutter is inserted. The collected juice goes to special "distillation" stations installed right in the forest. Here it is boiled over an open fire, evaporating, resulting in the purest maple syrup. To get one liter of syrup, you need to evaporate about forty liters of maple sap! Of course, this greatly increases the cost of the final product. But what joy gives the locals watching the cooking process!

But the processing and storage of this valuable product is trusted by the most modern technologies. All enterprises engaged in the extraction of maple sap and the production of syrup must comply with the most stringent quality standards and regularly undergo state inspections.

Today, one of the most famous companies involved in the collection and processing of maple sap is the Quebec cooperative Citadel, which unites about three thousand independent juice collectors. The company was founded in 1925, and most of its members are hereditary juice collectors who inherited this occupation from their great-grandfathers and fathers. Thanks to this, the company supplies the market with the highest quality products, which is a recognized leader.

Application of maple syrup

Maple syrup and products made from it (butter, sugar, jam) have become widespread in many countries of the world. Chefs of expensive and prestigious restaurants in Canada, the USA, Japan, France and other countries prepare the most exquisite dishes, of which this product is an integral component. These dishes are very popular, and many of them can be prepared at home. The syrup is served with pancakes, waffles, pancakes, ice cream. As an ingredient, it is used in meat dishes, pastries, desserts, sauces. The use of maple syrup has become widespread in the baking and confectionery industry as a natural alternative to sugar.

Ingredients of maple syrup

Maple syrup is a completely natural product, no chemical components are used in its manufacture, it does not contain fillers and preservatives.

Maple syrup contains many minerals (calcium, iron, potassium, phosphorus, sodium, zinc), B vitamins, including thiamine. It contains many antioxidants, and above all, polyphenols, which help a person prevent cardiovascular diseases and help rejuvenate the body. There is less sugar in the syrup than in honey, and there is practically no fructose, so it is useful for people who monitor their body weight. Even diabetics can use syrup. And the phytohormones that are part of maple syrup (abscisic acid) are very useful for the normal functioning of the pancreas.

The calorie content of maple syrup is 261 kcal per 100 g of product.

Benefits of maple syrup

Scientists who have studied the benefits of maple syrup have been able to prove that sweets can also be useful. For example, researchers from the University of Rhode Island recently found 13 compounds beneficial to humans in addition to the seven already found.

Scientists believe that the benefits of maple syrup is to prevent the development of diabetes, brain and breast cancer. And maple juice contains natural glucose, which is easily absorbed by the body as a fast carbohydrate. However, it is precisely because of the glucose content that maple syrup is not recommended to be consumed in excessively high amounts.

The use of maple syrup has a healing effect on the body, as it is a natural immunostimulant, so it is useful to use it for atherosclerosis, to reduce the risk of disease diabetes, to enhance potency.

This tasty and sweet treat is part of the products recommended for healthy eating, and is a great alternative to sugar, jams and jams.

Maple syrup is native to North America and is made from sap.
holly maple, as well as sugar and red, growing only
on the North American continent.

The main production of this product is concentrated in Canada,
namely in the Canadian province of Quebec, and the United States.

Maple syrup is a natural product without dyes and preservatives, reminiscent of
amber honey. This product is not only tasty, but also useful. It contains iron
magnesium, potassium and calcium, phosphorus and other useful substances. It improves immunity,
slows down the natural aging process of the skin and energizes the body.

Syrup is made from natural maple sap, the collection of which begins
in the spring season. The optimal conditions for harvesting are when the daytime temperature
rises above zero, and the night falls below. This year spring is in our
the edges was a little delayed and the maple sap collectors began their work
almost a month later.

The collected juice product is perishable and must be immediately
processed, so the syrup is often made right at the maple harvest
juice. Among the trees, plastic containers are installed, connected
a special mechanism and the juice goes directly for processing.

At the end of March, we drove past one of these places and I wanted to
see how it happens. The owner was nearby and, seeing,
that a car stopped at his property, drove up to us on his all-terrain vehicle.
- Can I come closer and take some pictures? I asked.
-Of course you can, why not!

After asking a couple of questions, I did not expect a tour with a detailed story,
but the young man enthusiastically began to explain all the details of the process
(see video).

To get maple sap, holes are drilled in the trunk of a tree.
up to one and a half centimeters in diameter and up to five centimeters deep
and insert special plastic tubes into them, through which the juice enters
directly into the evaporation tanks.

The harvesting process does not harm the tree and it can serve as a source of product
for many years. The resulting maple juice is boiled to thicken
natural way.

To prepare 1 liter of syrup, you need to collect 40 liters of juice. Ready
the product thickens and decreases in weight by more than 30 times. Then the syrup
cool and, to remove traces of crystallization, pass through a filter.

Maple syrup is a product of natural origin, it does not contain any sugar or
thickeners, no preservatives. It has different shades: from light golden
to rich amber, it depends on the type of tree from which the juice is extracted.
I thanked for the detailed story and got ready to return to the car.
"Wait here, I'll be right back," said the young man.

While I was looking at the sofa, which the owners put up to the road with a sign
"Free" ("Free"), he returned with a bottle of maple syrup as a gift to me.

Knowing that the syrup-pleasure is not cheap, and such a bottle is worth
20 dollars, I wanted to pay for it. But he categorically
refused even though I insisted.

So I went home with a bottle of syrup, and someone may have left here.
with a sofa. If none of the motorists passing by has a sofa
like it, then in a couple of days it will be taken away by scavengers.