Some History – The Intersection Between Maple Syrup and Slavery

Apple Butter - The Old Fashioned Way. The "Stirrer" is Actually a 6' Long paddle, designed to keep the cook far enough away to (hopefully) not get burned by the little volcanic splatters when it gets too hot.

This is one of those “Sweet Potato Sin” blogs with a dose of history…

Didn’t get to make my normal fall foraging run to the Blue Ridge or Appalachian Mountains this year, and thus didn’t get a chance to stock up on a few essentials. Key of which is Apple Butter, which I buy from a farmer in quart Mason Jars with no label. My little one who has been brought up on the stuff, along with other regional favorites (apple smoked trout, rhubarb pie, mountain berry jellies), was in a bit of a tizzy when we ran out. So in typical Daddy-do mode, I ran to the grocery and purchased a jar of the mass produced stuff…

It was AWFUL!

I immediately went back to the store, and purchased another jar, from another producer…

It wasn’t awful…just miserable.

Since the family has pretty much died out, or moved out of the mountain areas of West Virginia, my kids never had the “character building opportunity” to stand out back and make Apple Butter in a big cast iron kettle.  Of course to my Dad and older brothers, my character building was a bit less stringent and comprehensive, as by the time I came along they had things like gas burners to heat the pot, instead of a wood fire. So I missed the additional character building influences of chopping the wood, and learning how to keep the bed of coals at exactly the right temperature while stirring the pot all night out back of the house in freezing weather! Then there was the story about walking 4 miles “uphill” in the cold and snow to everywhere they needed to go…

Back Yard Maple Sap Boiling

No wonder our country’s morals have gone to hell in a  hand-basket!

So a logical question from my little one’s standpoint was – How do they make this stuff? The closest analogy which I knew she had seen, on a visit to Vermont several years ago was how Maple Syrup is made. You start with a cooked and strained mix similar to Apple Sauce – and then you cook it over a low fire for 24 hours, just like maple sap to make maple syrup. And just like Maple Syrup, you only get about 1/6th of what you started with in finished product. And just like Maple Syrup – if you don’t manage the temperature and constantly stir it…

You got a mess.

So I read this article with some interest (and the fact that the supposed –  top quality Maple Syrup is only slightly less expensive than gold) , and then was intrigued to learn how abolitionists as early as the 1790′s tried to use Maple sugar as a means to end slavery in the Caribbean.

Making the Grade: Why the Cheapest Maple Syrup Tastes Best

The market for maple syrup offers an odd inversion. The thin, pale fluid labeled Fancy or Grade A Light Amber commands the highest prices. It is the white bread of condiments, an inoffensive accompaniment to more flavorful fare. The robust, thick syrup marked Grade B fairly bursts with maple flavor, but sells at a significant discount. So why does the nominally inferior grade offer decidedly superior flavor? The answer lies in the history of maple syrup, a product that has long served as a symbol of American authenticity. As our sense of American identity has evolved, our syrup labels have not always kept pace.