Quick - what foodstuff do you think of when someone says Canada - maple syrup is likely going to be a common answer. But now it seems that this iconic Canadian product is under threat from climate change - particularly in specific Canadian locations like Nova Scotia.
Culinary historian Sarah Lohman writes a column for Atlas Obscura unpacking “American history through its endangered heritage foods” and in the latest edition she is talking about maple syrup from the North America maple sugaring region which “stretches from Québec in the North to Tennessee in the South; West to Missouri and Minnesota; and East to the New England Coast, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick.”
For those of you that have never enjoyed genuine maple syrup the ‘real’ thing is “seasonal, regional, and handmade. The flavor is highly local, affected not only by climate and soil, but processing techniques and bacteria.” However, “due to a variety of issues, ranging from climate change to waning interest in running small farms, both these plants and processes are dying out in some areas. Which makes maple syrup an ideal candidate for preservation on the Ark of Taste, Slow Food International’s online catalog of distinctive foods at risk of disappearing.” But as Lohman writes, “there is currently only one regional syrup recorded on the Ark: Nova Scotia maple syrup, added by husband and wife Scott Whitelaw and Quita Gray, the proprietors of Sugar Moon Farm in Earltown, Nova Scotia.”
Read the article to find about the many challenges that Whitelaw and Gray face in producing their syrup - including a hurricane two years ago that has kept them from making syrup since then. Lohman writes that although “there is worry that rapid climate change could destroy the industry, preserving maple forests actually helps ward off climate change. Sugar bush forests pull more carbon dioxide from the atmosphere than they put out. On average, a temperate sugar maple forest holds 100 tons of carbon. According to the Federation of Québec Maple Syrup Producers, “Québec’s sugar bushes store 744,000 metric tons of carbon per year, eleven times more than maple syrup production creates. This is equivalent to the emissions of 220,000 vehicles or 440 million litres of gas in the same period.”
Let us hope that this sweet syrup can persist against climate change and that younger farmers carry on the tradition.