Making Maple Syrup

The hard and soft maples are tapped together to create a beautifully tasting syrup with several layers of flavor. When spring arrives, production begins and the team gathers up their drill, taps, bags, and bag holders and head out into the snow-filled Northwoods. A trail to each of the trees, which was marked in the fall, is stomped down. Then, when they come to each tree, they study it to see how the tree has been growing, scouting for a spot that might yield an abundance of sap. This scouting also ensures that the new tap hole is at least six inches away from last year’s tap hole. The tree is drilled with a new tap hole at a slightly upward angle which allows the sap to run out of the tree better. Then every day, the team enter the woods, collects the sap, and brings it back to the production and bottling center. The process of cooking it down into the dark and golden syrup everyone loves begins and follows through all the way to your table where you will enjoy Trig's Signature Maple Syrup.

Not Just for Pancakes

• Skinny Sticks Maple syrup is also a great sweetener for:
  • Tea or Coffee
  • Oatmeal
  • Milk/Cereal
  • Meat glazes
• Substitute maple syrup for white and brown sugar in your baking. Use 3/4 cups of syrup to replace each cup of refined sugar that's called for in a recipe. 

Health Benefits of Maple Syrup

Minerals

​Maple syrup is high in manganese and zinc, with 100 grams of syrup offering 22 percent and 3.7 percent of the recommended daily values, respectively. Manganese is an important cofactor for several enzymes that are needed for energy production and antioxidant defenses. Zinc is essential for optimal immune system function. Deficiencies of these minerals may lower white blood cell counts and subsequently reduce immune system responses. Maple syrup also contains potassium and magnesium.

In comparison with honey, another common sweetener, maple syrup is lower in sodium, making it suitable for low-sodium diets. The syrup also has 15 times more calcium than honey, while containing 45 fewer calories.

Vitamins

​In addition to its mineral content, pure maple syrup is a source of several vitamins. Vitamins are organic nutrients essential for cell functioning. The most notable vitamins in maple syrup include niacin, B5, B2, folic acid, B6, biotin and vitamin A. Niacin and both of the B vitamins assist in the energy metabolism of body cells. B5 is a component of a significant enzyme that enables the release of energy from the energy nutrients. Vitamin B6 is important in protein and amino acid metabolism and enables conversion of one type of amino acid to another kind that is needed in higher amounts. Vitamin A is significant for vision and for maintaining the skin and the linings of the body, such as the stomach lining.

Considerations

Pure maple syrup is a natural, organic food with no reduction, processing or removal of any of its components. Other pancake syrups found in grocery stores commonly contain the ingredients high fructose corn syrup, cellulose gum, benzoate, sorbic acid and sodium hexametaphosphate. Raw food enthusiasts often include maple syrup in their diet as a natural source of sugar. It is also common in recipes for allergy-free foods.

Benefits

Researchers from the University of Rhode Island have found more than 20 compounds in maple syrup that are associated with human health. Many of these antioxidant compounds are also believed to have anti-cancer, anti-diabetic, and antibacterial properties. These researchers have also recently discovered that maple syrup is a source of phenolics, a class of antioxidants that are found in berries. Navindra Seeram, a researcher at the university who specializes in medicinal plants, speculates that "the sugar maple [tree] is wounded when it is tapped for its sap, and that it secretes phenolics as a defense mechanism."

Antioxidants have been shown to help prevent cancer, support the immune system, lower blood pressure, and slow the effects of aging. Maple syrup is more nutritious than all other common sweeteners, contains one of the lowest calorie levels, and has been shown to have healthy glycemic qualities.

Maple syrup was the original North American natural sweetener. Native Peoples in North America were the first to recognize 100% pure maple syrup as a source of nutrition and energy. Since then, researchers have been documenting that maple syrup has a higher nutritional value than all other common sweeteners.