Legends surrounding maple syrup, the best companions of pancakes 

Going out for lunch and dinner is common, but have you ever gone out for a breakfast? After all, it can act as a respite from the monotony of homemade breakfast comprising of milk and cornflakes or bread-omlette. How about pancakes with a drizzle of a delicious, golden syrup on the side. We are talking the famous maple syrup that can have you drool over it in no time. In fact, maple syrup is now increasingly being used in vegan recipes as a sugar or honey substitute.  

So, here’s how maple syrup is made. The concentrated sap from maple trees is collected during early spring and boiled till it produces a thick, rich, flavorful, sweet syrup. You can use maple syrup as a natural sweetener in breakfast dishes such as pancakes, oatmeal and waffles, or at times cooked into glazes, sauces, and desserts for that extra bit of sugariness.  

Today, more than 70 per cent of the world's maple syrup production comes from Quebec, Canada. But did you know that there are several fascinating legends about the origin of maple syrup. Let us now quickly dive deep into them, one by one. 

Prince Glooskap’s curse to maple trees 
Throughout history, the birth of maple syrup has been subjected to various fascinating native American legends, the most popular one being Prince Glooskap’s curse to maple trees. 
 
Legend has it that back then, maple trees used to brim with syrup and sap would naturally flow out. How? By simply making a hole in the tree bark. Now, one of the native North American tribes called Wabanaki believed in a mythical prince named Glooskap who emerged out of dust from Tabaldak's (the God of Wabanaki people) body. According to them, it was this God who bestowed magical powers to Glooskap to make the world a good place. Thus, Glooskap became a gentle and kind warrior, endowed with magical abilities, trusted as the fighter of evil.  

This is how the narrative goes. Glooskap, during one of his visits to the Wabanaki, village saw that none of the people were doing their regular chores. the children were not playing, women weren't cooking, and men didn't go hunting. Guess what they were busy doing instead? They had all assembled in the neighboring maple grove and were sprawling under the trees near the base, letting the delicious syrup trickle into their mouths. It was almost as if an entire village was hypnotised by the sheer power of the maple syrup. When Glooskap tried to get them back into reality, he failed, as nobody budged an inch! 

Being angry at this turn of events, Glooskap cursed the Wabanakis and their maple trees. Not only that, he, with his extraordinary abilities made large bark containers and filled them with lake water and poured it on trees, thus diluting the syrup, and taking away its sweetness. This is when he also declared that as a cure for their sudden but prolonged laziness, the maple trees would henceforth produce sap only in early spring. He also added that they would have to work for the syrup by boiling the sap. Over the years, people have believed that this was how the world came to know about maple syrup.  

Chief Woksis’ wife made world’s first maple syrup 
By now, you know how the world got introduced to maple syrup. But who was the one to have really gone through the process of making maple syrup from maple sap? Well, that too is a historical mystery. However, according to legends, Chief Woksis' (chief of a native American Indian tribe called Iroquois) wife Mogwa, was the first person to have produced maple syrup. 
 
One late-winter morning, just before going out for hunting, the chef pulled his tomahawk (an axe used by native American warriors and hunters) from the tree where he had tossed the night before. As you can already guess, it was none other than maple tree. The weather on that particular day was favourable for the tree sap to flow and fill a container next to the trunk (it was meant to collect rainwater!). Therefore, when the chief informed his wife about a full vessel, she assumed it was water. Later in the evening, she used it to prepare their supper. To cut a long story short, the wife unknowingly boiled the sap and ended up creating the world’s first maple syrup. In fact, it gave the chief's dinner a flavor like never before! And the rest, as they say, is history.   

Maple syrup: Fact file 
Here are some interesting facts about maple syrup.  

• Maple syrup contains as many as 24 antioxidants that contribute to overall health of a person. For instance, it contains benzoic acid that is good for skin and gallic acid that helps in metabolism and preventing gastrointestinal ailments.  
• In Canada, maple syrup is better known as liquid gold. 
• In between 2011 and 2012, there have been more than one instances of maple syrup heists. As part of it, nearly 3000 tonnes of maple syrup worth 18 million Canadian dollars was stolen from several suppliers based in the maple syrup capital, Quebec. In fact, this unusual event is known as the “Great Canadian Maple Syrup Heist.” 
• There are approximately 13 varieties of maple syrup in the world. However, the three most popular ones are: sugar (goldenish brown) maple, black maple and red maple.