Okay I am going to sound like the ultimate Canadian stereotype and this is not the typical Canadian experience but since my uncle had to give up his sugar camp maple syrup season just makes me kind of sad. Yeah there’s Briggs Maples selling their delicious maple confectionery and yeah you’re also probably distantly related to a part owner because your grandfather is cousins with half the province, but it’s not the same as the stuff you know was called collected by whichever of your dad’s brothers could haul their ATV over to the camp. Fantastic maple season but all I can think about is how this is the second year since my stock of my uncle’s objectively superior syrup ran out. Even the little bottles he gave out at his son’s wedding that I talked like ten people into giving me because I was an adorable child who was clearly very passionate about maple products. I remember absolutely loosing my shit at the prospect of visiting the sugar camp because I got to be the "taste tester" and that involved getting to drink syrup out of a cup and pretend I could distinguish between batches based on when in the season they were collected even though my toddler palate wasn’t processing anything but a sugar hit. Now what I really miss is this stuff straight from the tree. What I wouldn’t give to hang a bucket on a tap.
