By Matthew Thomas
I recently took a research trip to Québec and while on that trip was pleased to discover a new maple history book published earlier this year by author Maxime Caouette. Written entirely in French, the book is titled, Histoire Acéricole: Anecdotes, Procédés techniques, Chalumeaux, which roughly translates in English to Maple Sugaring History: Anecdotes – Technology – Spouts. However, for those looking for an easy to read, yet comprehensive look at the highlights of maple sugaring history in Québec, I recommend getting a copy of this book and using the power of Google Translate or some other translation app to assist you in reading this book.
Overall, this is a book that recounts the general history of the maple syrup industry and the evolution of the process of making maple syrup. Since Maxime is a Québecois author, the book rightly focuses on what he knows best and what is closest to him, maple sugaring in Québec. It also highlights areas of maple history that are of special interest to Maxime, like vintage syrup cans and maple spout technology. The book also presents some of Maxime’s more personal connections to maple sugaring with anecdotes and stories shared with Maxime by his grandfather. Since discovering this book, I reached out to Maxime, who is bilingual and equally comfortable with French and English, and I have enjoyed a wide variety of conversations on maple history where we have each shared research and learned from one another.
As his photo shows, Maxime Caouette is a young man, but his age belies his knowledge and passion for maple history which has been passed down in his family. He may be young, but he has done his homework, and moreover continues to explore and expand the breadth of his knowledge of maple history. On his father’s side he is a fifth-generation maple syrup maker and was raised in Lévis, Québec. He has completed advanced studies in agriculture and is currently employed with a maple equipment manufacturing company. While always interested in maple history and hearing stories from his grandfather, his focus and research efforts increased while undertaking his agricultural studies, leading to a desire to assemble what he had gathered and learned in this book.
At 183 pages, this softcover book is not massive in its presentation, but in my opinion it is the single most current and up to date volume that covers the breadth of maple history, both in the early years, but more importantly the last century. What I like about Maxime’s book is that it is easy to read and well organized, and is nicely illustrated with both color and black and white images. Moreover, it covers the highlights of what I consider to be some of the most important themes, events and developments in the 20th century maple industry in Canada and the United States.
I especially like this book because in telling the story of maple sugaring in Québec, it covers the topics that interest me most. It struck me that this is the sort of book I might write and contains the sort of information that I might include. Perhaps my fondness for the book stems from the fact that in researching and writing the book, Maxime regularly consulted many of the posts and historical research shared on this website. What’s not to love about that!
Like all good overviews of maple history, Maxime covers the topic of the origins of maple sugaring and the role of Indigenous peoples in bringing maple sugaring to the world. But more importantly, the book is about all aspects of the maple industry, past and present, including explaining how maple syrup is made today. Maxime does a great job of breaking the process down into its many steps and then focusing on each step to talk about the evolution of the tools and technology that were used. Although the primary focus is on the history of maple sugaring, Maxime’s volume does what most books focused on the history of maple sugaring technology do not do, and that is he combines the past processes with a clear presentation and explanation of the modern methods and technology.
The book includes a presentation of the evolution of the maple sap tap from its wood to its various metal shapes and designs, on to today’s plastic spouts. Maxime shares a detailed listing and evolution of plastic spouts for use with plastic tubing, something not found in other books dedicated to the history of early metal and wood spouts.
Maxime also includes a glossary of maple sugaring terms (in French), an inventory of the major maple equipment manufacturing companies (Canadian and US), and presents a timeline of events important in maple history, which as one would expect, is uniquely Québec-centric and notably different that the timelines that are commonly shared in the United States. Besides being a great educational tool, this is a wonderful reminder of the biases in the histories told in each of our countries and the need to work hard to ignore and remove the border as a barrier to studying and learning about North America’s entire history of maple sugaring.
As was stated at the beginning of this post, this book is entirely written in French, but I would not let that be a deterrent to the interested reader. Pull out your mobile phone and open the camera function in the Google Translate App and use that tool to translate the French to English. Sure, it can be cumbersome, but it is worth the effort in my opinion.
In addition to his book, Maxime has created an interesting website to both promote the book but also to share additional photos and information about such topics as vintage Québec syrup cans and a collection of historic advertisements for maple syrup equipment companies.
The book was published by Lac Plume D’Oie Edition, a small Québec based vanity press, but all orders for copies at this time are made through the author. The book can be purchased by contacting Maxime Caouette in Québec through the contact form on his website: www.histoireacericole.wixsite.com/website. The book is listed for CAD$30.00 and payment for shipment to addresses in the United States will be at the expense of the purchaser.