Making Maple Syrup, And A One-Of-A-Kind Spring Cocktail
This year, my family’s annual boiling will live on despite the death of my father, who had carried on his own father’s tradition. But can it weather the climate crisis?
Caitlin Stall-Paquet
Updated
(Illustration: Nicole Wolf)
The maple syrup tradition in my family started long before I was born. After my grandpapa passed away when I was a baby, my father inherited his metal vat for boiling the sweet water (also known as sap) over a fire. In early spring, as soon as the days got above freezing and the nights dipped below—the conditions needed for sap to flow—my father would tap the maple trees in the woods around our house in Frelighsburg, Que., and freeze the water until boiling day.