Canada’s national condiment: the surprisingly versatile maple syrup
It goes famously well with pancakes, but in its home country it is the condiment of choice for all kinds of savoury as well as sweet dishes
For most people, maple syrup is ideal for pouring over pancakes, waffles, French toast or oatmeal, but for many Canadians, it is a versatile condiment that can be used in both sweet and savoury dishes.
Maple syrup was first made by indigenous people in North America, and later adopted by settlers such as the ancestors of Pier-Alexis Soulière, one of the founding families of the municipality of Saint-Pierre-Baptiste in Quebec province. His family has been making the condiment for five generations and he remembers carefully watching as a child how his maternal grandfather did it.
“He was not a guy who spoke a lot, so my memories are of spending time with him – observing, smelling, feeling, communicating with the eyes and becoming hypersensitive to all the [things] that cannot be expressed through words,” recalls Soulière.
Since 2019, he has taken up the mantle of making maple syrup the traditional way in their small town that he says has one of the country’s highest concentrations of sugar maple trees, the only species of tree that can be used to make maple syrup in Canada.
In spring, maple water is collected by drilling a small hole in the tree and placing a metal dripper there to funnel the sap into a bucket.
“You need to collect the maple water every day – otherwise, there’s a risk of bacteria infecting the sugar, and then it creates a different flavour profile. We like to collect the water [while it’s] as fresh as possible,” explains Soulière.
Maple water is a colourless liquid akin to an energy drink: a mix of electrolytes, antioxidants, and minerals like potassium, calcium and zinc. It is 98 per cent water and only two per cent sugar, making it less sweet than coconut water.
Soulière says about 40 litres of maple water are needed for one litre of maple syrup that he sells under his brand, P-A Soulière Sélection. In addition to syrup, he makes maple sugar by reboiling the syrup and stirring it until it crystallises; while for maple butter, the syrup is boiled until it has a rich, smooth texture like Nutella.
