If you want to satisfy your cravings for sweets, but carefully follow your figure and therefore prefer to sweeten food not with sugar, but with honey or fructose, then you will appreciate such a food product as maple syrup.
This traditional Canadian treat is a real wonder of the world. It has the texture of a viscous, light yellow liquid with a characteristic sweet taste. Maple syrup is produced from the juice of red or
black maple. It serves as an excellent sweetener and sugar substitute in desserts, and in some countries it is traditionally used as an independent food product.
The history of the preparation of maple syrup goes back to the traditions of the North American Indians, who used it both for food and as a medicine. They, with the help of tomahawks, made cuts on the trees in the same way as we often do with a birch in the spring during the active beginning of the movement of juices. After collecting maple juice by long evaporation, excess water was removed from it until a thick, viscous liquid was formed.
So without the addition of sugar, a delicious and very sweet maple syrup was obtained. In those days, sugar was a rather expensive product, so maple syrup quickly became widespread among the first colonial settlers of North America as its natural and cheaper substitute. In addition, maple juice can be harvested year-round. All this made maple syrup an American national product.
This is a truly unique natural product, which, unlike honey, contains significantly fewer calories, and at the same time (if we compare it with honey again) it has a high concentration of minerals, which are so necessary for us to function normally. Judge for yourself: only two teaspoons of maple syrup weighing 13.3 g contain calcium, chromium, manganese, zinc, iron, potassium, etc. (more detailed information on the content of minerals, macro- and microelements is presented in the table). Where else can you find such a combination of minerals with such a high content in one product?
Maple syrup. Composition (for 2 teaspoons of the product):
Calcium | 8.93 mg |
Chromium | 0.33 mcg |
Copper | 0.01 mg |
Iron | 0.16 mg |
Magnesium | 1.87 mg |
Manganese | 0.44 mg |
Phosphorus | 0.27 mg |
Potassium | 27.20 mg |
Selenium | 0.08 mcg |
Sodium | 1.20 mg |
Zinc | 0.55 mg |
Now a little more about the benefits of this food product. Remember, we said that the Indians used it as a remedy. Although they did not yet know that only 30 g of maple syrup is capable of satisfying 22% of the body's daily need for manganese, which is responsible for the reproduction of energy at the cellular level and is an excellent antioxidant.
They also did not know that the zinc contained in this sweetness helps to reduce the development of atherosclerosis, prevent endothelial damage, significantly improve the condition of the inner lining of blood vessels and lower cholesterol. In addition, zinc and manganese are the main allies of the immune system.
But this is not all the possibilities that maple syrup is fraught with. The benefits of this product are familiar to all men who have problems associated with reproductive function. And again, the main assistant here is zinc, a lack of which in the male body can lead to the development of prostate cancer, and a sufficient amount of it helps to reduce the prostate, increase the synthesis of sex hormones and preserve reproductive function.
This is an unusual, sweet and healthy product that was invented by the North American Indians. Today it is widely used as a sweetener for tea and coffee, to which it gives a unique taste. Or for an addition to oatmeal, flavored with raisins and walnuts. They are poured fruit, ice cream, biscuits, pancakes and added to the marinade, intended for baking tofu and tempeh cheese .