Posted by Adam Quinan on August 06, 2000 at 13:16:29 from proxy2-external.ym1.on.home.com:
In Reply to: Re: Picts and Martyrs Oddities posted by Bill Wright on August 04, 2000 at 22:20:56:
#1 - treacle
American English calls this "molasses", as several others have noted. Someone said this was like American pancake syrup. Not
really--that is maple syrup, and is thinner, much lighter brown in color (almost like golden syrup), and a different sort of
sweet--the maple flavor is quite unlike that of molasses/treacle.
Maple syrup is also not made from sugar cane or beets but from the sap of the maple tree which runs in the early spring. This
gives it the distinctive flavour. The sap is a very dilute sugar solution and has to be boiled down 40 or 50:1 to get the syrup.
A good tree will produce up to a gallon 5 litres overnight. In parets of Quebec, Ontario and some North Eastern States, the
Maple Sugar off is a major festival and source of income for some. The trees are all connected together with hoses to drain the
sap into a central tank for boiling down. Children are often taken to the sugar bush to see the operations. Its tasty too, you
pour the newly made syrup into the snow and it forms a delicious toffee like substance.