This morning I had some home-made waffles prepared by the Blonde in The House. They were very good, but as I placed maple syrup on them my mind drifted to that notorious Quebec Maple Syrup Cartel. I assume that everyone is aware that Quebec produces 70 percent of the maple syrup that is around. However, they do not permit the free flow of the syrup. Rather you should remember that the cartel has 40 million pounds of maple syrup in barrels at “undisclosed” warehouses through out Quebec. The above explains in a nut shell why maple syrup is expensive, and why the people have to make do with maple flavored syrup which has very little relationship to the real thing.
Now it should be understood that the cartel is perfectly legal – well not perfectly, but legal. It shows what happens when governments pass laws that restrict freedom of the individual. In Quebec, if a producer does not join the cartel, bad things can happen.There is one farmer who has refused to join and is facing fines of $400,000 US dollars. Others have had their farms raided, and their syrup confiscated. Everybody knows that it is hard to mess with a cartel, especially when it is legal. In the USA Vermont produces the most syrup. One wonders what would occur if Vermont were to pass a similar law. Besides the immediate lawsuits that is! Actually, we all know that the folks in Vermont are ruggedly independent so it is unlikely to occur.
It is known that maple syrup was being produced and used by Native Americans long before Europeans arrived. I have always been interested in how people discover a use for a product. Well, according to legend – which is where we find all sorts of answers – it was Chief Woksis of the Iroquois. Apparently. The Chief was out walking in the woods one cold evening and was apparently ticked off about something. In any case, he threw his trusty tomahawk at a maple tree which put a hole in the poor thing. The next morning the sun heated up and sap poured out of the tree. Somebody for some reason tasted the sap and found it pleasing.
Personally. I doubt if it were the Chief who did the tasting. I suspect that it was his squaw, Mrs. Chief Woksis. She most likely took a sample back for the Squaw’s monthly luncheon to show what she had found. She then spoke to the other squaws and said, “Our husbands are pretty ornery most of the time. They need something to sweeten them up”. The other squaws agreed wholeheartedly. They formed a committee to determine how best to produce the syrup. They developed a cooking method which provided a product that worked well on corn fritters and other food. It did make their husbands sweeter which is why when the Pilgrims showed up, the Native American tribe in the area was friendly and helped them out. It should be noted that they did not necessarily share the maple syrup. They had their own cartel and did not share it with the Mohicans for example.
I might mention that Ojibwe in what is now Minnesota also produced a great maple syrup. However, they called it “iskigamizigan.” Obviously that name would never fit on a bottle so they get very little credit. As for me the next time The Blonde makes waffles in order to avoid the evil cartel, I will put rhubarb jam on them.
Villager Barry Evans is a columnist for Villages-News.com.
