Hello everyone. Today we're going to look at another natural food product and that's maple syrup.

大家好。今天我们来看看另一种天然食品——枫糖浆。

What is this exactly?

它到底是什么呢？

Well, maple syrup looks rather like clear honey, but it's not made by bees; it's produced from the plant fluid – or sap – inside the maple tree and that makes maple syrup a very natural product.

枫糖浆看起来很像透明的蜂蜜，但它不是蜜蜂产的。它来自枫树内部的植物液也叫树液，这使得枫糖浆成为一种非常天然的产品。

Maple syrup is a thick, golden, sweet-tasting liquid that can be bought in bottles or jars and poured onto food such as waffles and ice cream or used in the baking of cakes and pastries.

枫糖浆是一种质地粘稠、颜色金黄、带有甜味的液体，装在瓶子或罐子里售卖。可以倒在华夫饼和冰淇淋等食物上，或者可以用于烘焙蛋糕和甜品。

It contains no preservatives or added ingredients, and it provides a healthy alternative to refined sugar.

它不含防腐剂或添加成分，是精制糖的健康替代品。

Let's just talk a bit about the maple tree itself, which is where maple syrup comes from.

让我们来谈谈枫树，这就是枫糖浆的来源。

So, there are many species of maple tree, and they'll grow without fertilizer in areas where there's plenty of moisture in the soil.

枫树有很多种，生长在土壤含水量大的地区，不用化肥就能长起来。

However, they'll only do this if another important criterion is fulfilled, which is that they must have full or partial sun exposure during the day and very cool nights – and I'll talk more about that in a minute.

然而，只有在满足另一个重要标准的情况下，它们才能健康生长。那就是他们必须在白天完全或部分接受阳光直射而且生长地的夜晚要非常凉爽——我马上会详细介绍这一点。

There are only certain parts of the world that provide all these conditions: one is Canada, and by that, I mean all parts of Canada, and the other is the north-eastern states of North America.

世界上只有某些地区能满足所有这些条件：一个是加拿大，我指的是加拿大的所有地区，另一个是北美的东北部各州。

In these areas, the climate suits the trees perfectly.

在这些地区，气候非常适合枫树生长。

In fact, Canada produces over two-thirds of the world's maple syrup, which is why the five-pointed maple leaf is a Canadian symbol and has featured on the flag since 1964.

事实上，加拿大生产的枫糖浆占世界总产量的三分之二以上，这就是为什么五角枫叶是加拿大的象征，从1964年开始一直出现在国旗上。

So how did maple syrup production begin?

那么一开始枫糖浆是如何被生产的呢？

Well, long before Europeans settled in these parts of the world, the indigenous communities had started producing maple sugar.

早在欧洲人定居在这些地区之前，土著人就开始生产枫糖了。

They bored holes in the trunks of maple trees and used containers made of tree bark to collect the liquid sap as it poured out.

他们在枫树树干上钻孔，用树皮制成的容器收集流出的树液。

As they were unable to keep the liquid for any length of time – they didn't have storage facilities in those days – they boiled the liquid by placing pieces of rock that had become scorching hot from the sun into the sap.

那时，他们没有储存设备，无法长期保存这些液体。他们把在太阳下晒得滚烫的岩石块放进树液中来煮沸树液。

They did this until it turned into sugar, and they were then able to use this to sweeten their food and drinks.

如此反复，直到树液变成糖，然后土著人可以用它来增加食物和饮料的甜味。

Since that time, improvements have been made to the process, but it has changed very little overall.

自那时以来，加工过程有所改进，但总体上变化不大。

So let's look at the production of maple syrup today.

让我们看看如今枫糖浆的生产情况。

Clearly, the maple forests are a valuable resource in many Canadian and North American communities.

显然，在许多加拿大和北美社区，枫树林是一种宝贵的资源。

The trees have to be well looked after and they cannot be used to make syrup until the trunks reach a diameter of around 25 centimetres.

这些树必须被精心照料，直到树干直径达到25厘米左右，才能用来制作糖浆。

This can take anything up to 40 years.

这可能需要40年的时间。

As I've already mentioned, maple trees need the right conditions to grow and also to produce sap. Why is this?

正如我已经提到的，枫树需要合适的条件来生长和分泌树液。这是为什么呢？

Well, what happens is that during a cold night, the tree absorbs water from the soil, and that rises through the tree's vascular system.

在寒冷的夜晚，树木从土壤中吸收水分，水分通过树木的脉管系统向上传输。

But then in the warmer daytime, the change in temperature causes the water to be pushed back down to the bottom of the tree.

但是气温较高的白天，温度的变化导致水分被推回树干底部。

This continual movement – up and down – leads to the formation of the sap needed for maple syrup production.

这种持续的运动，一上一下，导致枫糖浆生产所需的树液的形成。

When the tree is ready, it can be tapped and this involves drilling a small hole into the trunk and inserting a tube into it that ends in a bucket.

当树长成后，就可以取树液了。这需要在树干上钻一个小孔，然后插入一根管子，管子的末端放入一个桶内。

The trees can often take several taps, though the workers take care not to cause any damage to the healthy growth of the tree itself.

这些树经常会被敲打几下，不过工人们会注意不会破坏树本身的健康生长。

The sap that comes out of the trees consists of 98 percent water and 2 percent sugar and other nutrients.

树液由98%的水分、2%的糖和其他营养物质组成。

It has to be boiled so that much of that water evaporates, and this process has to take place immediately, using what are called evaporators.

它必须被煮沸，使大部分水分蒸发。这个过程必须在收集到树液后马上开始，需要使用所谓的蒸发器。

These are basically extremely large pans – the sap is poured into these, a fire is built and the pans are then heated until the sap boils.

这些蒸发器基本上都是非常大的平底锅——将汁液倒入其中，生火，然后加热平底锅，直到汁液沸腾。

As it does this, the water evaporates, and the syrup begins to form.

在沸腾过程中，水分蒸发，糖浆开始形成。

The evaporation process creates large quantities of steam, and the sap becomes thicker and denser, and, at just the right moment, when the sap is thick enough to be called maple syrup, the worker removes it from the heat.

蒸发过程产生大量蒸汽，树液变得越来越浓。在合适的时候，也就是当树液足够浓稠，变成所谓的糖浆时，工人将其从炉火上移开。

After this process, something called 'sugar sand' has to be filtered out as this builds up during the boiling and gives the syrup a cloudy appearance and a slightly gritty taste.

在这个过程之后，一种叫做“糖沙”的东西必须被过滤掉，因为它会在煮沸过程中积累，使糖浆看起来浑浊，尝起来有微微的沙砾感。

Once this has been done, the syrup is ready to be packaged so that it can be used for a whole variety of products.

做完了这一步，就可以将糖浆包装起来，这样它就可以被用于各种各样的产品。

It takes 40 litres of sap to produce one litre of maple syrup so you can get an idea of how much is needed!

生产一升枫糖浆需要40升树液，这样你就可以知道需要多少树液了！

So that's the basic process. In places like Quebec where …

这就是基本流程。在魁北克这样的地方……