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Photo Credit: CTC Digital Asset Management System.

Maple Syrup Sugar Shack Photo by R.Taylor

Bucket collecting maple tree sap

Maple Syrup is Canada's spring tonic welcoming spring back with warmer days, melting snow and ice. A visit to the Maple Sugar Bush, or a visit to a Maple Syrup Festival adds smiles to kids and laughter for the family.

Fresh maple syrup is truly one of the first signs of spring north in Ontario. What better way to celebrate spring than at the many maple syrup festivals north of Toronto. Maple syrup production starts in many areas in early to mid March and runs into April depending on day and evening temperature changes. Many of the 400Eleven members have late winter spring festival activities in nearby resort destinations or mixed with March getaways and April Getaways during the maple syrup harvest.

Ontario 2011 Maple Syrup News

Maple Syrup and Maple Leaves: Iconic symbols of Canadian identity, part of rural resilience.......potentially threatened by climate change?
WATERLOO –March 2011.  Maple syrup is delicious. That’s a fact. It’s thick, it’s sweet and pancakes would be nothing without it. For Laurier Brantford Professor Brenda Murphy, it’s also more than a condiment: maple syrup is a part of the Canadian identity, and it’s a part that might be lost if climate change rears its head. See Maple Syrup news release and Laurier study details Maple Syrup, Resilience and Climate Change

Maple Syrup season begins — PHOTO GALLERY
By Jennifer Hamilton-McCharles, The Nugget
The sap has started to run and that only means one thing — it's maple syrup season. And that makes those with a sweet-tooth very happy. In a few weeks the brown sweet liquid will be the season's hottest commodity. But it's so much more than just maple syrup, there's maple candyfloss, maple suckers and toffee, maple sugar and desserts. Sugarstone Farm in Trout Creek, the home of Andy and Shelley Straughan, hosted the official tree tapping ceremony this morning

Keep busy this March Break‎
Toronto Sun - Jim Fox -
Ontario Parks have a maple syrup festival, bird watching and cross-country skiing, says publicist Judy Hammond. - Rondeau Provincial Park, southeast of ...

Prince Edward County 2011 Maple Syrup
Ottawa Citizen
Expect to find maple syrup on most menus since the 10th annual Maple in the
County Festival coincides with the kickoff week of Countylicious.
Participating restaurants include Amelia's Garden at The Waring House,
Angeline's, The Bloomfield Carriage ...More on Maple Syrup Festivals

Maple Syrup Myths or Facts

Maple Trees were once called Maypoles: True: From an early settler "I have ever seen was making sugar out of a tree...you make a hole in the tree) the Maypole they call it and out come the sugar like seet water thick like and you boil it." from the John A. MacDonald Alubum by Lena Newman.

From Maypoles to Maple Trees, there are many who believe the Fall Colour Season coincides with Maple Syrup production. False! Maple leaf color changes take place in September and October not March and April. See fall maple leaf colour routes.

A Spring tonic: Drinking the "Maple Sap" directly from the tree is a spring tonic to revive one from a long winter. Possible!! First Nations spring cure to renew vitality. Let the reader decide see Foodland Ontario Facts about Maple Syrup.

A cure for Cholera: "An 1832 remedy included a rub of lard, maple sugar and ashes from the maple tree (Note: this could be a spa treatment today), followed by a hot draught of maple sugar and lye causing violent perspiration." from the John A. MacDonald Album by Lena Newman.

Families can learn the history of maple syrup and glimpse first hand the boiling of the sap, (sweet water) and the making of the maple syrup. Maple syrup history goes back 1000 years and coincides with the arrival of spring, warmer weather and the "Maple Moon." The "sugaring off " period or maple syrup festival time is unique to North Eastern North America. In Canada, production is primarily in Ontario, Quebec, and some in the Maritimes. Many products are made from the syrup including maple butter, maple taffy in the snow, maple walnut ice cream, cured maple bacon, maple fudge, and a variety of desserts such as baked apples with maple syrup, always a family favorite.

Maple Syrup Recipes

The taste treat was first reported in the 1600's by French priests, probably in Quebec and historic Huronia area of Georgian Bay. See Maple Syrup Recipes.

Maple Trees For Syrup

The source of maple syrup should not be forgotten. The importance of the maple tree is often ignored both as the source of Canada's national emblem on our flag, and as the source of the delicious golden liquid called maple syrup produced each spring in North Eastern Canada. The Sugar Maple is the main source of maple sap for maple syrup products. See more information on Sugar Maple Tree.

More information on Canadian maple trees can be found at Maple Leaves Forever (MLF]. Maple Leaves Forever Foundation advocates planting of native maples in increasing numbers across the rural landscape of southern Ontario.

Maple Syrup 2011 Festival Activities

A trip to the sugarbush with the family wouldn't be complete without the taste of fresh 'hot-off-the grill' pancakes and sausages smothered in Canadian maple syrup. In recent years the Maple Syrup Festivals have attracted a wide range of families and couples. Visitors from all over Ontario and Canada plus international travellers and visitors come experience one of the many traditions of being Canadian in Ontario.

Sugar bush experiences highlight many family fun activities:

• horse drawn sleigh rides
• maple syrup boiling demonstrations
• taffy on snow
• log-sawing contests
• snowshoe races
• plank races
• step, clog and old-time square dancing
• nature trail walks
• live old-tyme music and more.

See March Getaways, and Spring March Break Getaways for resorts, inns, hotels including maple syrup activities in their family programs and packages for families.