Maple Sugar House Mold
date: label: date made
content: 19th Century (?)
notes: label: Description
content: Maple sugar is produced by boiling sap to evaporate the water until past the point of syrup production. It then can be placed into wooden or metal molds to harden into cakes to be used later. Early settlers in New England had greater access to maple sugar, while early abolitionists often promoted the use of maple sugar versus cane sugar due to the slave labor used in cane sugar production. While maple sugar production could never compete with cane sugar in terms of scale, it was often easier and cheaper for those on the northeaster frontier to produce.
label: Description
content: Maple syrup production is one of the few agricultural processes in North America that was not a European import but learned from Native Americans. Sap is typically collected from the Sugar, Red or Black maple, though it can be collected from other tree types. Northeastern North America is the most common area for maple syrup production, with Vermont, New York and Maine leading production in the U.S. Once the sap is collected, it must be boiled down to reduce the water content. It can require anywhere from 20-50 liters of sap to make one liter of syrup, depending on the sugar content of the sap. Each tree is capable of producing 35-50 liters of sap.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: Canada
label: location where used
content: Canada
label: associated place
content: United States: South Carolina, Charleston
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: Food Technology
label: See more items in
content: Food
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: CL.64.264
label: catalog number
content: 64.204A
label: catalog number
content: 64.0204A
label: accession number
content: 249244
label: catalog number
content: 64.264
objectType: label: Object Name
content: Mold, Maple Sugar
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: wood (clamp material)
label: Physical Description
content: wood (end material)
label: Physical Description
content: wood (side-roof material)
label: Physical Description
content: wax (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 5 1/4 in x 5 1/2 in; 13.335 cm x 13.97 cm