Stirring the Cauldron

New Moon Newsletters from Jessica Prentice

New Sap Moon

March moondark kitchen notes
from Jessica Prentice

The moon is new, and we are moving into the period called the Sap Moon by many Northeast Woodlands indigenous cultures, as well as in Colonial American Farmers' Almanacs. It is the time of year when Northern dwellers would begin to check their maple trees for sap, and though there would still be snow and ice, the very first signs of spring would be stirring deep inside the trees as the sap would begin to rise up through the trunks. Maple sap runs from the first sign of thaw until the first buds appear on the trees -- a period of about 4 to 6 weeks depending on the weather.

Maple sap was first harvested by the indigenous peoples of the Northern woodlands areas, where the Rock Maple, or Sugar Maple, is both native and prodigious. Iroquois legend has it that a chief named Woksis threw his tomahawk into a tree before leaving on a hunt, and that as the weather warmed the sap began to flow from the gash into a container that happened to be sitting by the tree. The woman of the house found the full container and thought it was water, and used it to boil the evening's meat. As the meat stewed, the sap cooked down into a syrup, and thus the knowledge of maple sugaring was born.

A couple of things are interesting to me about this story. The first is that the sap was mistaken for water. Those of us who have never seen maple sap first-hand may imagine that it is already sticky and sweet and syrupy, just not as thick as maple syrup, but this is not the case. It is watery and clear, and was often called maple water in colonial times, and was drunk as a beverage by native peoples. It was also used to make vinegar.

It takes approximately 40 gallons of maple sap to produce 1 gallon of maple syrup: that's a lot of water to be evaporated! To approximate the sweetness and consistency of maple sap, I mixed a little more than a teaspoon of maple syrup in with a little less than a cup of water (a ratio of about 1:40), and drank it. It was, indeed, maple water -- sweet, refreshing, delicious. I recommend it the next time you're craving a soft drink.

The other thing that's interesting about the story is that until European colonization, indigenous groups in Northern America had no metalworks, and thus had no pots or pans that could withstand the heat of fire. In the area now known as New England, most pre-colonial vessels were made of tree bark, animal hides, or dried gourds. So how did Woksis' woman boil the meat?

The most common method was to put stones into the fire until they got really hot, and then transfer them with home-made 'tongs' into a vessel filled with water. Stones that had cooled down would be transferred back into the fire, while more hot ones would be moved into the water. Enough stones would be transferred to bring the water to a boil, and then periodically added to keep the liquid at a simmer. Maple syrup was often made by this method, using a hollowed-out log as the cooking vessel.

Another method used by indigenous women was to let the maple sap freeze overnight in the bark or hide vessels. In the morning, layers of ice would be discarded from the vessel, leaving a sweet, mapley slush at the bottom. This would be repeated over a series of nights until all the water had successively frozen and been removed, and all that would be left in the bottom of the vessel would be the maple syrup. This worked because the sugars in the sap would not freeze, but the water would.

Indigenous communities would move camp during this time of year to be close to a grove of maple trees (called a 'sugar bush' by American colonists), and would pass the entirety of the month or so of the sap run there, engaged full-time in making sugar. When sap is cooked down past the syrup stage, it crystallizes and becomes sugar, which was the preferred method of indigenous people. I imagine this is because it is easier to transport as a solid than as a liquid. Maple sugar would be packed into containers made of birch bark (each holding 20-30 pounds). Enough for the community would be kept, and the rest traded, sold, or given away.

In 1896, a European-American observer of indigenous culture wrote, "The season of sugar-making came when the first crow appeared. This happened about the beginning or middle of March, while there was yet snow on the ground. This period of the season was looked forward to with great interest, and, as among the Minnesota Ojibwa today, became a holiday for everybody. Each female head of a household had her own sugar hut, built in a locality abounding in maple trees which might or might not have been convenient to her camp, but which was the place always resorted to by her, and claimed by right of descent through her mother's family and totem."

Europeans who spent long periods of time with these communities often commented on the large amount of maple sugar that was eaten. It was often noted that these indigenous cuisines did not use salt, and seemed to make liberal use of maple sugar as the predominant flavoring. One observer wrote, in 1755, that "the way we commonly used our sugar while encamped was by putting it in bear's fat until the fat was almost as sweet as the sugar itself, and in this we dipped our roasted venison."

Early American colonists quickly adapted maple sugaring techniques to their own technologies, using spouts, buckets, and huge iron cauldrons to boil the sap down into sugar. Farmers in the Northern regions added maple-syrup making to their repertoire of homesteading skills. Benjamin Rush, in 1792, wrote: "no more knowledge is necessary for making this sugar than is required to make soap, cyder, beer, sour crout, etc., and yet one or all of these are made in most of the farm houses of the United States. The kettles and other utensils of a farmer's kitchen, will serve most of the purposes of making sugar and the time required for the labor, (if it deserve that name) is at a season when it is impossible for the farmer to employ himself in any species of agriculture."

As the outrage over slavery grew among northern settlers, maple sugar was seen as a socially-responsible alternative to white cane sugar. An 1803 farmers almanac exhorts: "Prepare for making maple sugar, which is more pleasant and patriotic than that ground by the hand of slavery, and boiled down by the heat of misery;" and: "Make your own sugar, and send not to the Indies for it. Feast not on the toil, pain and misery of the wretched." A historian of Vermont said of maple sugar that it has "two important recommendations. It is the product of our own state, and it is never tinctured with the sweat, and the groans, and the tears, and the blood of the poor slave." (1842).

Interesting to contemplate the anti-globalization undertones of this sentiment, as well as the pride in a local food, and the activism implied in dietary choices. It is a reminder that what we eat has always been, and always will be, a decision with political, societal, and spiritual implications.

While a strong advocate of a local food system, there are some non-local foods that I treasure to keep in my cupboards. Maple syrup is one of them. Another note made about native foodways was: "Generally, they prefer their maple sugar to the West Indian cane sugar, and say that it tastes more fragrant -- more of the forest." I agree. It is of the forest, a gift of the trees, and one of the few culinary uses of tree sap.

Ayurvedic teacher and writer Maya Tiwari writes, "The earth offers us soma, symbolic of the nectar of the gods, from the bark of the maple tree, from the coconut, from the fruit, from the grain, from the bee, from the cow, from the buffalo, from the goat, and from the tiger..." So maple syrup is like the milk of the tree, and like the nectar of the gods. A near-perfect thing.

Have a wonderful Sap Moon everyone, feel those juices start to flow, and say a prayer of thanks for the gifts of the forest. If you are interested in learning anything more about maple syrup (haven't I covered it all??), check out the wonderful treatise by Helen and Scott Nearing, The Maple Sugar Book, distributed by Chelsea Green. And by the way, a maple syrup recipe follows.

Maple-roasted Nuts

Other than my very favorite use of maple syrup -- which is stirred into yogurt with a splash of vanilla extract -- this is one of my favorite ways to use the syrup.

• about 1 cup walnuts or pecans
• 2-3 Tablespoons maple syrup

Place nuts in a colander and shake to remove any powdery bits that might burn. Transfer nuts to a cast-iron skillet and roast over medium-high heat until they begin to change color and smell fragrant (just a few minutes). Pour maple syrup over nuts in hot pan and stir and shake for a minute until all nuts are coated and syrup has evaporated. Pour nuts onto wooden cutting board and immediately fill skillet with water and place in sink. Use a spatula or other tool to scrape nuts off of cutting board and keep them moving for a minute or so while they cool (otherwise they'll stick to the cutting board). Transfer nuts to a bowl and put cutting board under hot water (to prevent sugar from sticking to board & becoming hard to clean!). Eat and enjoy as a snack, or serve with fruit, or put on a salad.