Long before Europeans arrived in Canada, First Nations people living in the Maple Belt (the hardwood forest stretching from the Midwest to the Maritimes) used maple syrup like we use salt today. Syrup-cured meats were a staple and they taught this tradition of cooking meat to the first French settlers.

Sap collected during the month called the maple moon produced both maple syrup and sugar that was used to flavor everything from breads to drinks to sauces and candy. Maple syrup and sugar were even a cash crop used as a commodity for intertribal commerce. So, for centuries, maybe millennia, before we turned it into today’s 70 million dollar a year industry, maple sugar, like corn, was among the great staples in the domestic life of native people in Canada.

Here’s how the magic works: the Sugar Maple, Acer saccharum, begins the process in the fall when it starts storing starch in the vascular rays of the tree. Over the winter this is broken down by enzymes that are activated by low winter temperatures which convert the starch into sugar. The levels of sucrose start to increase in late October, reach their peak in December, then start declining until May.

As the pressure drops during the day, the sap flow slows down and stops. Negative pressure within the tree causes it to draw water through its roots and, the next day, as the tree warms up, positive pressure is restored and the pumping action produces another flow.

Sap flow is stimulated in late winter/early spring as the days become warmer and temperatures rise above 0°C during daylight, followed by below-freezing nights. Like a natural pump inside the tree, positive pressures push the sap upward so it runs out the tap hole in the trunk.

The whole sugaring off season is short, just 4 to 6 weeks in early spring. During the maple harvest, a tapped tree gives up about 7% of its sap with no harm to its health.

Though it took until 1996 for it to be proclaimed as our national arboreal emblem, the red Sugar Maple leaf has been appearing as a symbol of Canada since 1700. It was used on early newspaper mastheads, on military insignia, and, eventually, on our currency.

But on February 15, 1965 the leaf of the sugar maple made it to the big time as our national symbol. That was the day Canada inaugurated our new flag and Speaker of the Senate, Maurice Bourget, described it as "…the symbol of the nation's unity, for it, beyond any doubt, represents all the citizens of Canada without distinction of race, language, belief or opinion.

" When we go anywhere in the world wearing a red maple leaf pin, t-shirt or badge, we are instantly recognized as Canadian. This is the symbol of our identity, and its roots in our culture and our hearts are as strong as the tree itself.