Don't Be a Sap

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For no reason at all, I wanted pancakes this morning. I mean, American pancakes which are big and fluffy and cake-like, not the other kind. So, I made some pancakes this morning and as I doused them with syrup, I noted that my bottle of pancake syrup said it contained 2% maple syrup. That didn't sound like a heck of a lot. And I started to wonder - why is this stuff so precious? I mean, maple syrup literally grows on trees. In trees, rather. But you get the idea. So, I remembered that it's a process, but surely with industrial modernization they've come up with some less labor-intensive and ultra fast way to machine the syrup right out of the tree with little fuss? Not exactly. They can run the sap through tubes now, but it still takes a bit of time to do the boiling process. But the biggest problem is that it takes so much sap to produce a bottle of syrup. It takes gallons of sap to make a bottle of syrup. And you know, the trees didn't intend to make sap for you. It belongs to them. Native Americans here in the Northeast were making maple syrup and maple sugar long before the Europeans came along and learned how to do it. And they still don't do it efficiently enough that you can afford it in its pure form. I saw a recipe online for easy maple syrup and it had rave reviews. Turns out it's just boiling cane sugar and maple syrup extract flavoring. NOT maple syrup. Not even 2% maple syrup. I have always wanted to tap the trees and make my own, but the days for such antics are long past me now. I guess 2% maple syrup is better than none. But I feel like a sap.