Spring’s here! 🐣🌸
As temperatures begin to rise (not fast enough imo, it’s still freezing in Montreal), sap in maple trees thaws and can be collected, then boiled and concentrate into syrup and transformed into candies, desserts, and just about anything your sweetest dreams are made of.
Although maple syrup is primarily composed of sugar (sucrose), its chemistry and flavor are shaped by a complex interplay of factor like sap collection and processing methods, microbial activity within the sap, environmental conditions, and the packaging and storage of the final product. Not only maple syrup is composed of sugar but also a mixture of water, minerals, organic acids, amino acids, proteins, phenol compounds and even a few vitamins.
Flavors and composition also varies depending on depending on the Country it has been produced! Canada, especially the province of Quebec, where I’m from, is by far the world’s largest producer of maple syrup, followed by the United States. It’s important to recognize that maple syrup was first introduced to European colonizers by First Nations, who deserve the credit for this knowledge and tradition!
As you can see from my sample, sugar from maple syrup crystallizes over time and it’s mesmerizing to look at under the microscope! 🔬
Video taken with my iPhone mounted on an Olympus BX53 microscope with an
@ilabcam adapter 🔬
@evidentmicroscopy 
