Maple Syrup
To make 1/4 gallon (1 quart) of maple syrup requires an astonishing 10.5 gallons of tree sap. Traditionally a metal bucket was MacGyvered to a tree to extract the goods. Now a days, a tube connects all the trees into one happy, meandering mess of sap that flows directly into the sugarhouse, where it is finally boiled down into syrup.
Dulse
Dulse is an edible seaweed eaten in the Atlantic Canada. First it is harvested from the ocean waters, then dried out in the sunl. There are about 250 other varieties of seaweed growing wild on Canada’s shores, but most of them aren’t typically eaten.
Dulse, photo courtesy of Tiny Ian
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Chokeberries (we called them Choke Cherries) are quite common in Minnesota and make awesome wine and jelly.
For those who don’t know what they are a tiny cherry looking berry that is juicy when you eat it but then it dries out your mouth. They have a sweet and tart flavor of their own.
I love those things and I miss not having them around.
Another one is Elderberry. I know those things have to grow in Canada too because they are in northern Minnesota and a favorite food of bears.
They make excellent wine and jelly. As a matter of fact, I have Elderberry jelly in my refrigerator I bought at the Amish Cheese House in Chouteau a few weeks ago.
Makes me think I really need to make my own wine like dad used to…
I adore chokecherry syrup on pancakes. It is sublime.
Oh, sounds delish!
Now you’re making me hungry!
Call me when you have some wine made up 
I really want to try poutine. I live in Vermont, right near Canada, and I hear wonderful things about poutine!
I have had gravy fries. Just not with the cheese curds.
Yes, I’d imagine it would be wonderful… really, anything with cheese in the title is almost guaranteed to be perfection!
Only poutine and maple syrup did I have in Canada. The others I had in the U.S. (wild rice, dulse, chokeberries, fiddlehead ferns) and Greenland (caribou and seal blubber).
I’m so curious – what was caribou and seal blubber like? I can’t even imagine… is seal blubber like fishy pork belly?
Seal blubber had a rubbery texture and was not something I particularly enjoyed (just ate as much as I could to be polite, as I was at someone’s home and didn’t want to be a rude guest of this stranger). I also ate seal meat, which was tough but very tasty (like beef). Caribou wasn’t as tough as the seal- I think it tasted like venison (which I hadn’t had since I was a kid, but I think that’s what I remember it tasting like).
Poutine is yummy but soooo fattening! I live in western Canada (prairie region), so no fiddleheads or dulse, but we have lots of chokecherries and saskatoon berries. Did you know that there are lots of you-pick saskatoon orchards here? My “other” food is butter tarts. This is a Canadian specialty, similar to a miniature pecan pie but we usually put raisins in them instead of pecans. Ooey, gooey, rich and delicious!
Some of my favorite memories are going to you-pick orchards (although ours were apple orchards). Such a fun activity to do with kids. And, as for the butter tarts – I saw those and briefly considered making them but… well … I couldn’t resist the allure of grandpères!
Bannock- it’s basically Canadian flatbread.
p.s.- I love the fact that “macgyver” has been transformed into an oft-used verb. It takes me back to my early days (Macgyver is the first TV show I remember being aware of as a toddler)
Bannock sounds yummy. There are so many interesting flatbreads – I’ve found recipes all around the world! And, yes, McGyver is a great verb! (As is google, for that matter)