Editing Maple syrup (section)

== Cultural significance ==

[[File:Flag_of_Canada_(Pantone).svg|thumb|upright|right|The motif on the [[flag of Canada]] is a maple leaf.]]
Maple products are considered emblematic of Canada, and are frequently sold in tourist shops and airports as souvenirs from Canada. The sugar maple's leaf has come to symbolize Canada, and is depicted on the [[Flag of Canada|country's flag]].<ref>{{cite web |title=The maple leaf |url=http://www.pch.gc.ca/pgm/ceem-cced/symbl/df6-eng.cfm |publisher=Canadian Heritage |date=17 November 2008 |accessdate=18 November 2010 |url-status=live |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110611184304/http://www.pch.gc.ca/pgm/ceem-cced/symbl/df6-eng.cfm |archivedate=11 June 2011 }}</ref> Several US states, including West Virginia, New York, Vermont, and Wisconsin, have the sugar maple as their [[List of U.S. state trees|state tree]].<ref>{{cite web |title=State Trees & State Flowers |url=http://www.usna.usda.gov/Gardens/collections/statetreeflower.html |date=14 July 2010 |publisher=United States National Arboretum |accessdate=18 November 2010 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20101206125016/http://www.usna.usda.gov/Gardens/collections/statetreeflower.html |archivedate=6 December 2010 }}</ref> A scene of sap collection is depicted on the Vermont [[50 State Quarters|state quarter]], issued in 2001.<ref>{{cite web |title=The 50 State Quarters Program Summary Report |url=http://www.usmint.gov/downloads/mint_programs/50sqInfo.pdf |accessdate=20 October 2013 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130430064826/http://www.usmint.gov/downloads/mint_programs/50sqInfo.pdf |archivedate=30 April 2013 }}</ref>

Maple syrup and maple sugar were used during the American Civil War and by [[Abolitionism in the United States|abolitionists]] in the years before the war because most cane sugar and [[molasses]] were produced by [[Southern United States|Southern]] [[Slavery in the United States|slaves]].<ref name="atlantic"/><ref name="gellmann">{{cite journal |last=Gellmann |first=D |title=Pirates, Sugar, Debtors, and Slaves: Political Economy and the case for Gradual Abolition in New York |journal=Slavery & Abolition: A Journal of Slave and Post-Slave Studies |year=2001 |volume=22 |issue=2 |pages=51–68 |doi=10.1080/714005193}}</ref> Because of food rationing during the Second World War, people in the northeastern United States were encouraged to stretch their sugar rations by sweetening foods with maple syrup and maple sugar,<ref name="history" /> and recipe books were printed to help housewives employ this alternative source.<ref name="driver">{{cite book |last=Driver |first=Elizabeth |title=Culinary landmarks: a bibliography of Canadian cookbooks, 1825–1949 |year=2008 |publisher=University of Toronto Press |isbn=978-0-8020-4790-8 |page=1070}}</ref>