Maple Sugar

Saint-Louis-de-Blandford, Quebec – Until the story of the theft hit the news in 2012, most of us didn’t even realize that we had massive ‘Maple Syrup Reserves’ in Quebec. Apparently the Federation of Quebec Maple Syrup (FPAQ) keeps a global reserve of nearly 13 million kilograms of syrup in three warehouses to stabilize global supply and prices.

One day in 2012 an accountant who was auditing the reserves located near the Trans Canada Hwy at Saint-Louis-de-Blandford, discovered barrels filled with water and others that were empty. Turned out that thieves had siphoned the  contents of 16,000 45-gallon barrels. The value of what was stolen was about $16 million wholesale.

Eighteen of the guys with the sticky fingers have been caught, and in a sweet twist to a strange story, it’s been announced that the heist will be made into a Hollywood movie staring Jason Segel, with Seth Gorden directing.

Tasty facts:

Canada produces 80% of the world’s pure maple syrup, 91% of which is produced in Quebec . The other provinces where it is produced are Ontario, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia.

It takes about 40 gallons of maple water to produce a gallon of maple syrup.

The lighter the colour the higher the grade of Maple Syrup. Sunlight will darken it.

There are more than 8,600 maple syrup businesses in Canada.

Canadian Maple Syrup is exported to more than 50 countries.

In a story reported in the Globe and Mail I learned that Quebec actually has an independent team of maple syrup tasters that  test from each and every barrel produced. That has to be one of the coolest jobs I’ve heard about in a long time.