Cantley's 1889 Articles in The Echo of Cantley
Cantley 1889’s volunteers have written more than 150 monthly articles of local historical interest for publication in The Echo of Cantley, a non-profit bilingual organization that produces Cantley's only community newspaper.
The following article is reprinted here with permission from in The Echo of Cantley, Volume 37 no 2, August 2025.
Cantley’s Maple Syrup – the Nectar of the Gods!
Michael Rosen
Nothing is more Québécois or Canadian than maple syrup. Sold at airports, given as gifts to famous visitors, nothing else represents us so well. Cantley is part of this maple syrup heritage. Historically, many of its original farming families produced syrup for local consumption. Today, this legacy continues in Cantley where many, many “backyard producers” annually tap, haul, boil, and bottle this “nectar of the Gods.”
Producing maple syrup is demanding, working long hours and manipulating the necessary equipment. Yet, the rewards of welcoming the first warm days of spring with the production of something so loved, is difficult to describe. Those who produce syrup are part of a very elite group, sharing in social activity with friends during those long boiling hours, and leaving their families with warm memories.
First Nations people, and later the Quebec botanist Marie Victorin, observed squirrels licking “sweet water” from wounds left by broken maple branches. Early explorers also observed First Nations maple syrup production. By the 19th century, innovations included metal buckets, spiles (spigots), and wood-fired evaporators. Today, the use of plastic pipeline and vacuum pumps to draw the sap, and reverse osmosis to minimize boiling, are modern innovations for the process.
Canada produces 85% of the world’s maple syrup with 90% coming from Québec. Québec markets its syrup through the “Producteurs et productrices acéricole du Quebec” (PPAQ). The PPAQ registered 64 million taps this year in 2025 and Quebec produced 239 million pounds (or 108,409 tonnes) of syrup. This does not include the thousands of “backyard producers” like me.
This year, my neighbour and I used 100 taps to make about 50 litres of syrup. At a ratio of 40:1 (sap to syrup) it meant we collected (by bucket!) then boiled about 2,000 litres! Not a job for everyone!
Other trees like birch can be tapped but maple trees have the sweetest, best tasting sap. The leaves of the tree produce the sugars, sending them to the roots for storage. With the longer days and higher temperatures of spring, the tree draws the sweet sap to initiate bud expansion and a new set of leaves. Tapping the right way draws about 7% of the tree’s sap. Trees are tapped as young as 25 years and can yield sap well into their 200th year without damaging the health of the tree. The number of taps per tree increases with diameter. Traditionally a bucket with a lid is hung from a spile tapped into the hole. From there the magic begins!
Because the sap can spoil, once collected it is kept cold or sent immediately to the evaporator where it is boiled. Maple sap becomes maple syrup when the sugar density is 66.7 degrees Brix. Brix is the measure of sugar content or when the boiling point is 4oC above that of boiling water.
What a wonderful way to celebrate our heritage, to connect with nature, to celebrate the return of spring and to pretend in your own way to “live off the land.” Friendships are made when the sap is boiling or when you gift someone some real maple syrup! Incredible!
If you interested, there will be a workshop this autumn in Cantley — Maple Syrup for the “backyard producer”.
