A truly Canadian tradition
INFOGRAPHIC BY VANESSA GILLIS
STORY AND PHOTOS BY JONATHAN FERGUSON AND VANESSA GILLIS
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- The Maple Syrup Festival at Bronte Creek Provincial Park in Oakville opens every year on the first Saturday of March. It offers visitors a tour of Maple Lane, where they can learn how to make maple syrup, as well as a walk through the historical farmhouse museum.
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- The Festival also offers fresh taffy at the Taffy Station beside the Victorian Farmhouse, homemade maple sugar in the Candy Shanty, and lots of goodies at the gift shop!
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- The first stop on the Maple Lane tour shows the visitors how to determine if a tree is ready to be tapped and how to properly tap it.
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- The next stop shows how maple sap used to be boiled down over a fire pit before the methods were improved.
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- The improved method of boiling the sap, the three kettle method, involved hanging three different sized pots. The sap was poured into the largest pot, and then gradually transferred to the smaller pots as the water evaporated. Unfortunately, the sap was prone to burning.
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- This method of boiling the maple syrup also involves evaporating the water from the sap, but the flat pan allowed the sap to boil evenly to ensure it did not burn. Sugar shacks were eventually built around these pans to keep the sap clean.
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- In order to make maple sugar, the sap has to be boiled past the point of syrup until almost all of the water has evaporated.
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- Once the water has evaporated and the syrup turns into crystals, it is then stirred and poured into moulds. Once it has hardened, it is ready to devour!
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- Before it was known for maple syrup, this park was well known for its famous strawberries, which were donated by Stonehaven Farms in Campbellville. Unfortunately, they cannot grow in this unforgiving winter.
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- This farmhouse, built in 1899, has been converted into a museum and gives visitors an opportunity to see how people lived over 100 years ago.
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- Jade Gillis, 3, sits in the discipline chair, which was believed to have corrected the posture of children who had to sit in it during a time out.
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- The festival had many farm animals on display that would have been owned by the original farmers. Here, a calf can be seen drinking from its mother, sheltered from the cold temperatures.
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- Here, a cow can be seen contemplating the meaning of life.
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- A farm isn't complete without a turkey! This big guy was actually raised by one of the organizers of the event. He has quite the attitude!
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- Maple syrup, made and bottled at Bronte Creek, can be purchased at the gift shop located in one of the barns on the property...
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- Unfortunately, real maple syrup can be quite expensive. These little bottles are sold for $4 each.
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- Apparently maple syrup can be quite versatile, as demonstrated by these fruit-flavoured maple syrup spreads that are available at the festival. Looks quite delicious.
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