What is Maple Syrup, anyone have idea?!

This sweet syrup is made from the sap of the sugar maple tree. The process of creating maple syrup begins with tapping (piercing) the tree, which allows the sap to run out freely. Maple sap, as it comes from the tree is a clear, slightly sweet liquid. The sap is collected into a large holding tank. More than 30 gallons of sap is required to make a single gallon of maple syrup.

http://www.land-of-snow.com/maple_syrup.…

Maple syrup is a syrup made from the sap of sugar maple, red maple or black maple trees. In cold climate areas, these trees store starch in their stems and roots before the winter; the starch is then converted to sugar and rises in the sap in the spring. Maple trees can be tapped and the exuded sap collected and concentrated by heating to evaporate the water. Quebec, Canada, produces most of the world's supply of maple syrup.

Maple syrup was first collected and used by Native Americans and First Nations, and was later adopted by European settlers. It is most often eaten with waffles, pancakes, oatmeal, crumpets, and French toast. It is also used as an ingredient in baking, or as a sweetener and flavoring agent. Sucrose is the most prevalent sugar in maple syrup.

Maple syrup is graded according to the Canada, US or Vermont scales based on its density and translucency. Syrups must be at least 66 percent sugar to qualify as "maple syrup" in Canada; in the US, any syrup not made almost entirely from maple sap cannot be labeled as "maple". Maple syrup and the sugar maple tree are symbols of Canada and several US states, particularly Vermont.

-KimShawty

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maple_syrup

A natural sweetener derived from the sap of a maple tree.

It is the sap of sugar maple trees that is cooked down to a syrup.

been cooking/baking about 50 years

sap from a maple tree