Editing Maple syrup (section)

=== Indigenous peoples ===
[[File:Sugar-Making Among the Indians in the North.gif|thumb|left|''Sugar-Making Among the Indians in the North'' (19th-century illustration)]]
[[Indigenous peoples of the Americas|Indigenous peoples]] living in northeastern North America were the first groups known to have produced maple syrup and [[maple sugar]]. According to Indigenous oral traditions, as well as archaeological evidence, maple tree sap was being processed into syrup long before Europeans arrived in the region.{{sfn|Ciesla|2002|pp=37, 104}}<ref name="mmsa"/> There are no authenticated accounts of how maple syrup production and consumption began,<ref name="history"/> but various legends exist; one of the most popular involves maple sap being used in place of water to cook [[venison]] served to a chief.<ref name="mmsa">{{cite web|title=History |url=http://www.mi-maplesyrup.com/about/history.htm |publisher=Michigan Maple Syrup Association |accessdate=20 November 2010 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110525093903/http://www.mi-maplesyrup.com/about/history.htm |archivedate=25 May 2011 }}</ref> Indigenous tribes developed rituals around syrup-making, celebrating the Sugar Moon (the first full moon of spring) with a Maple Dance.{{sfn|Eagleson|Hasner|2006|p=15}} Many aboriginal dishes replaced the salt traditional in European cuisine with maple syrup.<ref name="mmsa"/>

The [[Algonquian peoples|Algonquian]]s recognized maple sap as a source of energy and nutrition. At the beginning of the spring thaw, they made V-shaped incisions in tree trunks; they then inserted reeds or concave pieces of bark to run the sap into clay buckets or tightly woven birch-bark baskets. The maple sap was concentrated first by leaving it exposed to the cold temperatures overnight and disposing of [[fractional freezing|the layer of ice]] that formed on top. Following that, the sap was transported by sled to large fires where it was boiled in clay pots to produce maple syrup. Often, multiple pots were used in conjunction, with the liquid being transferred between them as it grew more concentrated. Contrary to popular belief, syrup was not typically produced by dropping heated stones into wooden bowls, especially in northeast North America where Indigenous cultures had been using clay pots for thousands of years.<ref>{{cite report|author=Chenevert, Brian|url=https://abenakitribe.org/maple-syrup|date=3 March 2021|title=Maple sugaring among the Abenaki and Wabanki peoples|archivedate=8 March 2023|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230308031917/https://abenakitribe.org/maple-syrup|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="history"/> However, modern and historic sources contain evidence that hot stones may have occasionally been used in the upper Midwest and Canada, where hollowed out logs and birchbark containers typically replaced clay pots.<ref>{{cite web|author=Diemer-Eaton, Jessica|url=http://www.woodlandindianedu.com/hotstonemaplesugaring.html|date=2014|title=Hot-Stone Boiling Maple Sap to Syrup: Theory, Basis, & Public Demonstrations|publisher=Woodland Indian Educational Programs|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230322150820/http://www.woodlandindianedu.com/hotstonemaplesugaring.html|archivedate=22 March 2023|accessdate=22 March 2023}}</ref>